CFP wrote:https://twitter.com/snyyankees/status/1291551845370953735

Yankees bothered by T-Mac's yelling, which... I can't blame them

Boone also complained to the umpires about the noise from fans outside the stadium lol.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/ya ... jjvB07EOiQ

heyeaglefn wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:The closer you make baseball to a video game the more young “fans” will just want to play the actual video game.

Other sports have made changes that work baseball will just need to find what works best.

True, but baseball has a longer history. The more changes you make the more that history— which I would argue is central to baseball’s appeal — becomes irrelevant.

Maybe baseball is becoming a dinosaur. Maybe its pace is too slow and it’s not as instantly gratifying as some other sports. But at least IMO, turning Baseball into Not Baseball is not the way to go. The changes which have already been made have turned off a lot of fans. IMO the operation is killing the patient.

I don't disagree, my Wife's Uncle in his late 60's hates all of the changes from DH this season to instant replay to 7 inning double headers. My 12 year old Nephew won't even watch baseball because it is too slow and too boring and all that stuff.

At some point the 12 year old potential fan is more important than the older fans that care about history. Will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years and how they navigate it. I am in my 30's and history isn't as important as the on field product/experience of going to the games and watching them. I know the history and appreciate it but I am not watching Bryce Harper because of that, I am watching him because of what he is doing now.

A lot of the drop off in fans is a probably a generational thing with each one buying into "their stuff". The WWII guys game was baseball. Their kids took to football. Their kids went for basketball. Now the switch with the younger set is soccer and lacrosse. I really notice it with the grand kids. To them, baseball, football and now to a growing degree, basketball is getting to be a yawn. The problem for a lot of these sports is that if they use changes to the game in order to chase the market that they don't have, they stand the chance of losing the market that they do have.

Almost a quarter of our season will be 7 inning games

CalvinBall wrote:Almost a quarter of our season will be 7 inning games

That’s good. SP is fine; RP rots.

Arrieta pitching today. Sunday is Velasquez and Howard.

I hope they let Howard take a regular turn in the rotation. Unless it's to manage workload none of this "help us in multiple roles" BS or however Girardi put it.

CalvinBall wrote:Almost a quarter of our season will be 7 inning games

I’m good with this in perpetuity

Uncle Milty wrote:I hope they let Howard take a regular turn in the rotation. Unless it's to manage workload none of this "help us in multiple roles" BS or however Girardi put it.

With all the double headers scheduled in September, I almost wish they'd just go to a 6 man rotation rest of season. Keep everyone stretched out, while also giving them enough rest.

Stripes wrote:

Uncle Milty wrote:I hope they let Howard take a regular turn in the rotation. Unless it's to manage workload none of this "help us in multiple roles" BS or however Girardi put it.

With all the double headers scheduled in September, I almost wish they'd just go to a 6 man rotation rest of season. Keep everyone stretched out, while also giving them enough rest.

Girardi essentially said they will in The Athletic (and maybe elsewhere) today

He said it’s inevitable in September, wonder if they would start now though. You’re basically taking one or two starts away from Nola and wheeler and giving them to Vinny or Howard.

azrider wrote:

heyeaglefn wrote:I think younger fans want that stuff. Gotta get them watching now.

i think the neater and cleaner you make the game regarding it's "action", the kids will get bored and move on. it's more than just a game. the key is family affordability and taking them to a game and creating memories around the game, a lot of which doesn't happen on the field.

Agree with your latter point here completely. It’s been well documented how MLB owners have shifted their revenue strategies from filling seats to maximizing dollars per seat, and the cracks in the game’s foundation are showing as a result.

That said, I think improvements to the pace and action of the game should always be considered as well. I don’t mind the 7 inning games at all, nor the DH (though I love the idea suggested on the previous page about 8-man lineups instead - people want to see stars like Bryce hit!). The 7 inning games also promote complete games by your star pitchers which is a lot easier to digest, as it used to be in previous eras, vs watching parades of relief specialists come in on both sides.

Would love to see the return of the running game somehow to amp up the excitement too, but I don’t think that’ll happen unfortunately.

MoBettle wrote:He said it’s inevitable in September, wonder if they would start now though. You’re basically taking one or two starts away from Nola and wheeler and giving them to Vinny or Howard.

Right, was just combining that with his recent comments on protecting guys from injury and assuming that’s the direction they’ll go ASAP - which I also think makes complete sense.

according to fangraphs, phils batters have the highest bb% and lowest k% in mlb. in isolated power, 7th in mlb and 3rd in nl. result: 2nd in nl and 3rd in mlb in wrc+, despite below-average babip. if bringing up howard and playing a disproportionate number of 7-inning games can reduce the effect of vv and the bad 2/3 of the bullpen, we might have a chance.

JFLNYC wrote:

heyeaglefn wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:The closer you make baseball to a video game the more young “fans” will just want to play the actual video game.

Other sports have made changes that work baseball will just need to find what works best.

True, but baseball has a longer history. The more changes you make the more that history— which I would argue is central to baseball’s appeal — becomes irrelevant.

Maybe baseball is becoming a dinosaur. Maybe its pace is too slow and it’s not as instantly gratifying as some other sports. But at least IMO, turning Baseball into Not Baseball is not the way to go. The changes which have already been made have turned off a lot of fans. IMO the operation is killing the patient.

The thing is, I think a lot of the complaints about the game by the modern generation are common with old school complaints. Like if you could get back to what I imagine as a classic 1950s/1960s style game (2 hours long, starting pitcher working quickly and going close to the whole game, no shifts, guys putting the ball in play, lots of stealing and hit & runs) that seems like both what the old school people want to get back to and a product that would grab the younger generation more than the current one.

It's just a question of how you get there, and I don't see how you do it without real rule changes. At the end of the day, we aren't watching for the rules, we are watching for the game, and the rules dictate the game that we see. We already have allowed the game to change because we refuse to change the rules. Namely, the downside of analytics working is that the analytically correct way to play is also less entertaining for a lot of people. So the only way to get teams to change their behavior is to change the math by changing the rules the way the other sports have done.

The DH seems inevitable, maybe this 7 inning double header stuff is too, but what I really think would help is:

1. A pitch clock (would probably have to be phased in)
2. Limiting the number of pitchers you can use in 9 innings (with various exceptions and related penalties. Like a pitcher doesn't count if he gives up 5 runs or something and if a guy leaves with an injury he can't pitch for X amount of days after that).
3. Getting rid of shifts (in a way that incentivizes putting the ball in play)
4. Making the bases bigger (which might tilt the success rate for stealing bases enough to get teams to steal more)

There's probably a lot more but those are some obvious ones off the top of my head.

PSUsarge wrote:

Stripes wrote:

Uncle Milty wrote:I hope they let Howard take a regular turn in the rotation. Unless it's to manage workload none of this "help us in multiple roles" BS or however Girardi put it.

With all the double headers scheduled in September, I almost wish they'd just go to a 6 man rotation rest of season. Keep everyone stretched out, while also giving them enough rest.

Girardi essentially said they will in The Athletic (and maybe elsewhere) today

Hadn't seen that until now. Glad to see they're considering it. Also, the 7 inning games may limit the bullpen's exposure. Hopefully.

Drew Anderson is pitching for the White Sox. I completely forgot about him.