Off-Topic Forum

Go back to 154 game schedule.   Shorten playoffs. (I know it is simply about money and not "for the good of the game")/   Get rid of DH.      No wandering around outside the batters box or crossing to the  other side after swinging and missing.   Just bat, this would speed up games.     Unjuice balls and bats before some pitcher gets killed.

I really like the idea about having each player sign a ball and drawing for it in the 7th inning.

If I were comish I would actually expand leagues by a few teams to make (4) FOUR equal size divisions in each league have 2 rounds of playoffs between the division winners i.e. Div. # 1 VS. Div. # 2 , and Div. 3 VS. Div. # 4 and then the winner from those two games play each other of the league playoff winner from that goes to World Series. 

 Secondly would have to take a look at the Whole  dynamic but would try I know this is gonna sound funny but try to crack down on teams purposely tanking, but at the same time change a major rule For losingest team to not only get the # 1 draft pick , but also the 2nd and possibly 3rd. as well.

 One of the ways to enforce teams from tanking would be to have an up or down vote from players union on whether they think a team or teams are purposely trying to circumvent the rules by losing on large scale , and teams with multiple years marked as a violator would have their franchise kicked from the league and would make future cities posible / competitve for getting another team elsewhere.

An idea to stop tanking is do what my softball league and some soccers league do.  If you finish last you are moved down a lower league and replaced by the first place team in that league.

I cannot stand to watch baseball on tv. 2 big reasons. 1) too many games it feels like the players do not always care (same issue I have with basketball) 2) it is too slow. I watched almost every softball game in the olympics because they were fast and enjoyable. 

I think baseball needs to shorten the schedule, speed up the game with pitch clock and not letting the batters leave the box, make a uniform rule book between both leagues like both the NFL and NBA, and give the fans a better expierence by improving the sports positively not by taking farm teams away. 

The order of draft picks does matter a lot. It's just that all draft picks are hit and miss.

As for what I would do, I would restore a balanced schedule and limit the amount of times batters can call time. And if they request time when the pitcher is in their delivery, the umpire can't call time.

Relegation, this is one Euro football concept I like a lot.  Hate their idea of letting games end in a tie and watching a game that seems like teams are playing for a tie is awful and bad for competiton. However relegation is good for competition.

ohoffm wrote:

An idea to stop tanking is do what my softball league and some soccers league do.  If you finish last you are moved down a lower league and replaced by the first place team in that league.

Currently the average overall game time is three hours and eight minutes long, with commercials accounting for 51 minutes of that time. With that being said I would eliminate commercials and reduce warm up pitches between innings to greatly reduce the time. They can still get the commercials in by running ads in a secondary box or do what they do on the radio ie: this portion of the game is sponsor by insert name. 

I do think the players should give back to the fans in some way. It would only takes a few seconds to sign a ball and someone would be super happy.

Baseball is my favorite sport, but I would be totally fine with cutting the season back to 140 games.  You could start in early to mid April and still end in September.  Maybe even have a shorter timeframe if you have Saturday doubleheaders.  That accounts to an average of 25 games a month which would allow teams more time to rest and travel if they have doubleheaders and allows more dates for makeup games.  I like the idea of expanding the league by two so there could be 32 teams, or four divisions of 8.  Each division winner make the playoffs and the divisional series could be best of five and the championship and World Series could be best of 7. 

As for the draft, I'm not sure what I would change with it to be honest, though if a few teams seem to be tanking (I think there is a difference between tanking and selling off parts for a rebuild), then maybe have a draft lottery like the NBA.  I like the idea better for the NFL, but it could work for MLB.  While regulation would sound like a good idea, I don't know how it would be implemented.  If say the Tigers have the worst record, who replaces them?  Some MILB team that's stadium is 1/3 the size?  Say that MILB team is an affiliate of the Dodgers, then what?  The Tigers would have no MLB representation and the Dodgers would then have two teams.  Even if a Tigers affiliate replaces them, then they would just send all their best players to that team.  It would cause too many problems.

Maybe a better decision would be if a team is accused and found to be tanking on purpose, then take away future draft picks and/or fine the owner.  Again, I think there is a difference between selling off parts and tanking to get picks.  I also think there is a difference between tanking and being a penny pincher owner.  While I don't like them either, I don't know what you can do besides find a way to groom potential new owners to step in if it is persistant.

Moving onto the field, I don't like a lot of the new rules, and I don't like creating a bunch of new ones.  I do like the idea of limiting time outs for batters, it seems a lot of them stall more than the pitchers.  I would shorten the time for a replay to be called too.  Five seconds and make it a player/manager decision (no waiting on someone to tell them).

I would also change the extra innings rule.  I still don't like the runner on second, but if they want to have it, then I wouldn't start a runner on until the 11th inning, and the runner would start on first.  If they make it to the next inning or beyond, then the runner can start on second.    I don't mind the 7 inning double header, but would only implement that if it was for makeup games and they were back to back games (not a day/night doubleheader).

As far as fan interaction, I like the idea of creating more opportunities for fans to meet with the players and would try to create more opportunities for those interactions especially on weekend and summer day games.  I wouldn't make it mandatory, but I think it would be nice. 

I'm sure there are other rules I'd create and some would probably alienate new and old fans alike, but I would also make some of these changes as quick as possible (at the start of the next season), and would try not to make more rules unless absolutely needed.