Rating The MLB Rule Changes

The 2020 MLB season included an unprecedented amount of changes from 2019. Some of these changes were the result of coronavirus, while others were going to happen regardless of the pandemic. Now, it’s time to reflect on these changes and see if they’re worth keeping if we can return to a normal 2021 season with 162 games and no coronavirus disruption. I think the best way to do this is to rate these changes for two situations: this bizarre year and going forward in the future.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Universal DH

2020: 10/10

Going forward: 10/10

Madison Bumgarner has a career OPS of .532. Nelson Cruz has a career OPS of .876. If you can only pick one of these hitters to appear in the lineup for a baseball game, can you honestly tell me you want to see Bumgarner? While the chance to see someone like Bumgarner, Zack Greinke or Max Scherzer hit a homer or smoke a double is fun, the number of pitchers who can actually provide an extra base hit here and there is outnumbered by those who are an automatic out wasting everyone’s time. I will concede that pitchers hitting does provide some interesting strategic decisions, like deciding if you should pinch-hit for them in the 6th inning of a low-scoring one-run game, but the strategic aspect of it isn’t worth seeing countless wasted at-bats. In addition to providing a fun source of homers, the DH also rewards teams for having depth. The Mets were able to give both Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso plenty of plate appearances by rotating the two between 1B and DH, and it paid off, with Smith providing an excellent .993 OPS and Alonso, even with a sophomore slump, still delivering a very solid .817 OPS. The pros and cons of the DH have been argued by baseball fans for as long as the position existed, but I can’t imagine any fan of an NL team has truly missed their pitchers hitting. This is a simple change that absolutely needs to be kept going forward.

Runner on second to start extras

2020: 6/10

Going forward: 4/10

The runner on second was awful if you had a rooting interest in the game but was pretty entertaining if you were watching as a neutral. I felt like I spent this year watching extra innings of random games I had no interest in once I learnt they were going to extras, just because I thought the runner on second increased the chance of an entertaining outcome. As for the extra innings games that involved the Baltimore Orioles, the wins provided an unsatisfying feeling and the losses just felt kind of cheap. During a loss to the New York Yankees this year, the O’s lost thanks to a bottom of the inning that ended after a wild pitch and a sac fly. The main issue that I have, and I know I’m not alone, is it just feels lame for a team to score a run without recording a walk or a hit. Does a team that scores a run from extra innings after a sac bunt and a sac fly really seem like it earned that run? I don’t think so and it seems like most of the baseball community agrees. Ultimately I still give it a 6/10 for this year because once the 60-game

season started, it was pretty clear the league wanted to do whatever it could to get the games in as quickly as possible and this was a way to accomplish it without radically altering the sport. Going forward, I’d be pretty opposed to doing this starting in the 10th inning, but would be more open to doing it starting in the 13th inning. I specifically like the 13th inning because innings 10 through 12 give the entire batting order at least one more chance to hit. If none of them have put together a run, then it’s time for the extra runner.

7-inning doubleheaders

2020: 6/10

Going forward: 3/10

The St. Louis Cardinals played a remarkable 19 7-inning games this year while the Miami Marlins ended up playing 14 of them. Both of these situations arose from the teams going through lengthy periods of quarantine due to coronavirus, with the Cardinals not playing between July 29 and August 15, while the Marlins were off between July 26 and August 4. MLB either could’ve made them forfeit those games, skip them and just determine the postseason by winning percentage or the option that happened: lots of doubleheaders. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but the chances of having anything in sports be perfect this year ended when Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus in March. While the quantity of doubleheaders was clearly a grind for these teams, there was still less wear-and-tear for the pitching staff as a whole compared to normal teams. The Cardinals pitched 473 innings this year, compared to the Dodgers, who led the league with 538.2 innings pitched, a difference of over 65 innings. By March 2021, I hope we won’t find ourselves in a situation where teams are taking multiple days off due to coronavirus, so there will be less need for 7-inning doubleheaders next year. This was an understandable change for this year, but if the 2021 season starts in a post-pandemic world, there shouldn’t be any reason to keep it for something that’d only happen due to weather.

16-team playoff

2020: 5/10

Going forward: 3/10 with 16 teams, 6/10 with 12 teams As soon as the Minnesota Twins were knocked out of the playoffs by the Houston Astros, it was clear that this year’s 16-team format had caused something to go horribly wrong. A division champion getting knocked out after two games by a team that finished 2020 under .500 isn’t ideal in any circumstances, but it was especially concerning when the team that advanced is hated by virtually everyone in baseball for their cheating scandal. At a certain point, including too many teams creates a lose-lose scenario. Either they get eliminated by a higher seed and it feels like they’re just wasting everyone’s time or they pull off an upset and we lose the chance to see a more talented team keep playing. While the Milwaukee Brewers do have Christian Yelich, it would’ve been pretty dreadful for baseball if they upset the Los Angeles Dodgers. Even the biggest Brewers fan can pretty easily admit the star power of Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and Clayton Kershaw would be more exciting to the neutral fan. Rewarding teams for seasons

where they hover around .500 will lead to a less exciting free agent market and offseason in general. Why pay for Anthony Rendon or Bryce Harper if you know more than half of the league is making the postseason every year? I think a 16-team playoff would reduce tanking, but I don’t think it’s worth rewarding mediocrity. I wouldn’t want this exact format, I think a 12-team format that keeps the Wild Card round as a best-of-three would be a good way to expand the playoffs without multiple teams under .500 making the playoffs.

A schedule where the AL East only played itself and the NL East

2020: 4/10

Going forward: 0/10

To reduce travel and create a regional bubble of sorts, the 60-game schedule for this year included every team playing its own division and its geographical partner in the other league. As such, the Orioles ended up only playing nine different teams instead of the typical 19 or 20 teams. While I understood the thought process behind having the Orioles never traveling further than New York and Florida, the season felt empty without getting the chance to face the entire AL. As someone with a terrible sleep schedule, it’s legitimately disappointing I didn’t get to enjoy 10 p.m. first pitches against the Oakland A’s, Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners this season. Additionally, the first round of this year’s playoffs have demonstrated that keeping teams confined to just two divisions doesn’t give us a chance to truly evaluate their ability. The AL Central and NL Central were responsible for seven of the 16 teams, but none of them wound up winning their series. This alignment did increase the amount of rivalry games, but playing games outside of your division and region is still a fun part of the baseball season. A meeting between brilliant young talents like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto didn’t happen this year and we didn’t get the chance for pitching matchups like Jacob deGrom against Yu Darvish. There’s no indication this will continue in 2021, which is a relief.   

Three-batter minimum for pitchers

2020: 8/10

Going forward: 8/10

This rule was introduced for 2020 before the pandemic, so there’s no reason to think it’ll be a one-year experiment. I liked this rule, because it requires pitchers to be better, managers to put more thought into their bullpen usage and improve pace of play without a truly drastic change. Left-handed specialists either had to get better at pitching to the right-handed hitters or see their value decrease, while managers had to decide how much they trusted their relievers in matchups where the batter had the platoon advantage. It also helps the game flow better, as few things are worse for pace of play than a reliever being brought in for a single batter, especially if he can’t get the guy out. The three-batter minimum doesn’t radically change the nature of the game, but requires relievers to be better, managers to be smarter and keeps the game just a little quicker. It’s hard to find any issues there.