MLB: Can Banana Ball change baseball for good?
- Thread starter ISUCyclones2015
- Start date
Would you watch?
1. Every Inning Counts.
The team that scores the most runs in an inning gets a point.
The first team to five points wins the game.
The inning is over once the home team takes a lead or three outs are recorded on the home team.
2. Two Hour Time Limit.
No inning will start after the two-hour point. If a team has not reached 5 points, the game will go to a Showdown Tiebreaker
3. No Stepping Out.
Batters cannot step out of the batter’s box once an at bat starts. If batter steps out at any point, it’s a strike on the batter.
4. No Bunting.
Bunting Sucks. Enough Said.
5. Batters Can Steal First.
If a pass ball or wild pitch happens during any pitch of an at-bat, the batter can take off to first.
6. No Walks Allowed.
If a pitcher throws the fourth ball it becomes a Sprint. The hitter will take off sprinting to first while the catcher has to throw the ball around to every defensive player on the field before it becomes live. The hitter can advance to as many bases as he can before the ball becomes live. The ball does not have to touch the catcher or pitcher.
7. One on One Showdown Tiebreaker.
Each team picks one pitcher and one hitter to face off. The defensive team only has the pitcher and catcher on the field. All other fielders are off the field. If a hitter puts the ball in play, he has to score and make it home to get a point. If the ball is put in play, The pitcher is allowed to chase the ball and throw the ball to the catcher for a play at the plate. If a pitcher strikes him out or gets him out before scoring, he doesn’t get a point. If the batter walks, he can take second base and the hitting team will bring another hitter to the plate.
First team to reach 5 points wins. If the score is tied – the first team to keep the other team from scoring wins.
8. No Mound Visits Allowed.
Let’s keep the game moving. No mound visits from the coach, catcher or any other players. Hype your pitcher up from afar if needed.
9. If a Fan Catches a Foul Ball, It’s an Out.
Why not let the fans get in on some of the action?
Baseball needs some evolution but this overall is dumb
With all these crazy rules, why not let batters chose which way they want to round the bases? If you want to head to 3rd and go backwards to score, that could also be interesting.
Baseball has to decide if they want to make changes to chase after casual fans that go to the park for the experience rather than the sport, or to hold onto the fans they have that love baseball the way it was. They keep making little changes every year to 'speed up the game' that only serve to agitate the few fans they have. No one is watching a game hoping is gets over soon. That's ridiculous. You're either not watching because you don't like baseball, or you're enjoying watching, or you're napping with the tv on. But you're not hoping it gets over soon.
Baseball needs to either go big and make lots of big changes, to where the game is almost unrecognizable, to chase after all these hypothetical fans, or embrace what they are and stop pandering to the narrative pushed by those that are never going to be fans anyway.
Baseball has always been a regional sport, people care about their team, but aren't going to sit down and watch a random game between two random teams. Individual teams need to take it upon themselves to make their product entertaining, regardless of the set of rules they're playing under.
Baseball needs to either go big and make lots of big changes, to where the game is almost unrecognizable, to chase after all these hypothetical fans, or embrace what they are and stop pandering to the narrative pushed by those that are never going to be fans anyway.
Baseball has always been a regional sport, people care about their team, but aren't going to sit down and watch a random game between two random teams. Individual teams need to take it upon themselves to make their product entertaining, regardless of the set of rules they're playing under.
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
This was always golf for me as a kid. Turn on ABC’s golf coverage, hear a little T.S.O.P. going in and out of commercials, the whispering tones of the announcers … out like a light.
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
Better yet, if they run the bases backwards it takes a run away from the other team. Call me, Manfred! My consultation rates are reasonable!
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
In general, I agree. Fans of baseball like baseball. They aren’t looking for the game itself to be changed to “spice things up” or to draw in fans who, actually, don’t like baseball.
Long games are fine if there’s something happening. Action on the base paths, exciting defensive plays, balls put in play - heck, even a tight pitchers’ duel can be fun to watch. What isn’t fun to watch is 3 1/2 hour games with batters stepping out of the box between every pitch (which is actually against the rules, but never enforced), pitchers wandering around the mound or mentally going over their household budget between every pitch (also against the rules), parades of relievers coming in to throw warmup pitches, and excessive commercial-loaded breaks between innings. Also every batter either striking out or launching a home run isn’t much fun, but that’s not the way baseball should be.
My two cents would be:
- Hold batters & pitchers to the current rules. You can’t step out of the box unless you swung at the previous pitch, and pitchers have 20 seconds max to deliver to the plate. Those rules already exist, but umpires don’t enforce them.
- Limit rosters to 12 pitchers. Teams in the 90s got by with 11, sometimes even 10. That, to me, would be a much more effective & strategic way to deal with the number of relievers in a game than the ridiculous 3-batter rule.
- Put a time limit on replays (also, do this in football, too!). If replay officials can’t tell the call was blown in 30-45 seconds, let it stand. That’s the whole purpose of replay, right? To correct the obviously blown calls, not to determine the shortstop’s foot came off the bag 3.2 milliseconds before the ball was in his glove, but you can maybe only possibly tell that from one angle and you blow it up 300x and squint really hard?
I think these changes alone would do a lot to speed up games. Now, to fix the two-true-outcomes thing of strikeout or HR, that might take something more.
But let’s not make baseball into a carnival game with only a loose connection to the sport, just in the desperate hope of luring a few more eyeballs.
I personally love baseball the way it is, but this does sound like it'd be fun to watch as it's own game
The idea of stealing first, as explained in the video, would only take place on passed balls or wild pitches.
The "No Stepping Out" rule combined with a pitch clock and no mound visits would make baseball 1000% more watchable for me. Nothing I hate more than a batter and pitcher playing "mind games" with each other for 3 minutes between pitches. Its the stupidest thing in sport; like icing the kicker with a full 3 minute timeout 8 times in a row.
I don't think you would even need a 2 hour time limit. I might support a "no new inning start after 3 hours" rule, but you'd have to make sure teams couldn't manipulate it too much.
The rest of it is just goofiness, reminds me of some made up bs game from PE class circa 1988.
I don't think you would even need a 2 hour time limit. I might support a "no new inning start after 3 hours" rule, but you'd have to make sure teams couldn't manipulate it too much.
The rest of it is just goofiness, reminds me of some made up bs game from PE class circa 1988.
I remember stealing first a lot in Little League, because goodness knows Little League is mostly wild pitches and passed balls. Good times.
I was going to say, leave baseball how it is and maybe start this as a new sport/league. I'd watch
