Off-Topic Forum

I like the discussion  we have about how baseball has changed, but what would you do differntly?

If I were comissioner I would: 

Return to 156 game schedule. End season earlier, no more November World Series games.

Stop interleague play during regular season

A balanced schedule; everybody in a division plays everybody else the same number of time.

Sunday doubleheaders!

As someone who's grown up with interleague play and the 162, I quite like them. I'm also a traditionalist in most ways, and would try and make sure some of these garbage rule changes dont happen. games may be long, who cares, you dont have to watch the whole thing. I like the idea of more neutral-site games, and scheduled double-headers are cool. I'd make the WC series a tad longer. I think stealing bases is a lost art in today's game, and would love to see them encouraged. (though I know that's easier said than done) And lastly I'd push back against the robo-umps, but try and hold umps more accounatble. the umpire-player dynamic is interesting, but tyrants like Joe West take it a bit too far. Lastly, I'd make the DH remaining only in the AL something no longer negotiable. I like the dynamic where the rules are slightly different between the two leagues.

I would institute a pitch clock, don't let the pitchers take all that time to rest up for another 100+ mph pitch, make them work quick.  Likewise, it won't give the hitters time to rest for their huge swings for the fences.  Hopefully that will put more balls in play.

Then I would move the fances back where ever possible (I know this might be tough in many stadiums).  Another 10-20 feet would reduce a good number of homeruns (and hopefully reduce the players swinging for them) and that extra green in the outfield could help produce more doubles and triples, which is where the real excitement is. 

Basically just want more players running bases or making plays in the field and showing off their athletic skills.  Try and reduce the "3 outcome" at bats (K/BB/HR).

Keep the 162 game season, but don't include so many teams in the playoffs.

DH for both leagues

Kill off 6 teams. I'm not going to say which ones

Implement the pitch clock

Keep interleague but mix it up. I want see the Red Sox play a different NL team each year.

Every starting player must sign a ball as they come onto the field for every game of the season. Your seat and section is the raffle number. Balls are claimed during the 7th inning stretch.

cool question, though commish really doesnt' institute theses changes, it is his bosses the owners.  But still for the sake of the thread, what would I do if I had the sole power?

Mandatory section in every stadium, that every fan would have access to for player-fan interaction (optional for players but it's there not just for rich people).  This would be pre/post game, not in-game.

Great ideas above, I would push for faster pitch/ABs enforcement.  I would expand rosters by 2 players.  I would keep 162, but have regular 7 inning double headers to end season a week or two earlier and have playoffs done in October before it gets too cold.

I would not expand playoffs.

Needs to be a penalty for tanking.  Stop rewarding bad seasons with draft pics.  It is not very meaningful to have 162 games if only half the teams (or less) are really invested in winning games for much of the season.  If we could create incentive for teams to stay out of last place or really fight for 3rd place instead of 4th place more of the games would be meaningful for the entire seeason.  You'd think that shame from losing would be enough but we've seen that front offices have no shame in clearing the roster and basically putting their minor league team on the field.  

I kind of have to disagree there. Tanking is the penalty in itself. Even the very best future stars spend 2 years in the minors. It doesn't matter if the draft pick is #1 or #30, they'll still spend the first year in A level and maybe AA for the second half of their first season. Then they are in AAA for their second season before they even have a shot at training camp for the MLB team. If they don't make the team out of training camp, the next shot is September when the roster expands (unless there is an injury to a player in the same or similar fielding position or a pitcher). Draft picks are not a reward in the MLB like they are in other sports. In the NFL, a Top-10 pick is usually going to be a starter right away and for a decade to come (barring injuries). Some MLB HOFers didn't even get to the MLB for several years after they got drafted. And some of the top draft picks never even made it to the Major League. So a team tanking the season isn't just tankiing that season, but a few to come. Then they still have to pay the stars to stick around until they can move some MiLB players up to the MLB team or BUY some new stars to take their place. Cleaning the bench is so much harder in the MLB than in other sports. Look at the Yankees and Red Sox lately. They spend a ton of money in the offseason on Free Agents and still can't produce consistent playoff contenders and certainly haven't had WS title contenders for many years now. The Cardinals have also paid a lot of money to free agents that didn't pay off with a title. None of those teams has tanked a season but they continue to build their farm systems with lower draft picks. They are still better off for the future than the teams that can't hold stars because they show that they would rather get the low draft pick than win as much as possible. I still don't understand the Cubs cleaning house this year though! Just a few years after a WS Title and they gave up on the core of the team. It's going to be a long rebuild for them.

Imagine a company that intentionally provided a terrible product for years and was able to stay in business and collect guaranteed revenue and handouts just for being in the industry they're in. Then all of sudden they use the resources they've amassed under these conditions to get ahead of companies that have been doing their best to provide quality product all along. 

Baltimore Orioles? Oh wait, they haven't figured out part 2 of your scenario.

I would institute a pitch clock.  Saw this in Rochester AAA and it was an extremely enjoyable game.

Video replay must be asked for within 5 seconds of the play happening.  Nne of these clubhouse reviews then call to the manager before asking for a video replay. Let the managers have to make the call the same way the ump does.

Abolish interleague play - hated it since its inception.

Even schedule for all teams in a league - this way the Wild Card team is truly the 4th best team.  And only one WC so that there are 4 teams in each league that make the playoffs. All series are best of 7.

I like the idea of scheduled 7-inning double headers to shorten the regular season and make the World Series end in October as it should.

As Spaz said, tanking in baseball is pointless as the #1 DP are never a sure thing.  Think Ben McDonald, Brien Taylor, etc. Some are good, a few are excellent, and a small few may make the HoF. But probably half are bad. Here is a list of the #1 picks all the way back to 1965 https://www.mlb.com/news/recall-mlb-s-no-1-overall-draft-picks-c275618784

Well if the order of draft picks doesn't matter all that much I guess there's no objection to giving the #1 pick to the team that wins the world series because it does make more sense to reward good performance. Right?

Also, tanking is not just for draft picks.  Teams save a boatload of money by not paying for a competitive roster for the years they are tanking( or "rebuilding") and then when they decide to go for it they splurge on free agents.  Also, the tanking all starts when they unload all their MLB talent for prospects at the deadline and trash the rest of the season.