I still don’t understand why time of game is an issue, NFL games are 3 hours + on average. Even if they can get average game time down in MLB it won’t satisfy the ADD crowd that loses interest easily. Baseball is a slower sport in general, but it builds intensity better and can have more drama from pitch to pitch depending on point in game. Respect the sport for what it is and stop trying to please people that will still be upset after these proposed changes
Came to see if those dudes were still arguing about Altuve's extension. Stayed for minor league baseball rules discussion. When is opening day?
It seriously feels like Spring Training is taking longer than the off season, and we're only a little past the half way point.
I don't think the challenge is total game length, but I do think that getting that pitch-to-pitch drama to unfold more quickly would help in an "ADD crowd." The times I get frustrated in baseball are when the drama is building and the batter steps out 4 times or the pitcher circles the mound again or throws to first base for the 5th time. The gaps between innings, pitching changes, etc. are fine - they are time to check the phone or get a snack. So, I'd support the time limits for both pitcher and hitter to keep the 'in-inning' game action crisper.
It’s both. They definitely don’t want games continuing to trend towards the 4 hour mark. The thing they want to avoid is people turning off the game before it’s over. If multiple games a week are going to the 10-11pm timeframe people are just gonna stop watching.
Would be totally fine with a pitch/batter clock as long as it’s reasonable. There is still some gamesmanship associated with stepping out and stepping off mound, I don’t want to see that taken away from hitters/pitchers. I may be more of a traditionalist when it comes to baseball, but am in favor of digital strike zones and some timer associated changes
Electronic strike zones would save time based simply on the amount of arguing about balls/strikes from all parties involved (hitters, pitchers, catchers, guys on deck, managers in the dugout, etc.).
In the afterglow of the WS win I consider two of my go-to Astros/baseball websites nearly worthless now. TCB is on life support now that Ryan Dunsmore is gone. While I thought the content had drifted downward over the years, the comments section carried the site. Now that several people left, like Chris Perry to form his own site, there’s not much left. Fangraphs is reeling after Dave Cameron left. His content were must-reads. Jeff Sullivan is solid as always but I don’t always like his articles. The rest of the non-prospect coverage has devolved into ridiculous articles and daily chats. Kiley and Eric Longenhagen are great but the combo isn’t yet paying dividends. Great time to be an Astros fan; not a great time to be an internet baseball journalism fan.
I agree. I actually think the content at Crawfish Boxes has sucked ever since Tim DeBlock stopped running it. The comments section had its moments but it’s been a steady downhill slide over the last 10 years. If Jason Marbach becomes the editor, that site will be toast; he’s an idiot. Not a fan of Perry either. If clack started his own site I would be all over that. This is my main site. The commenters here are rational, funny, and for the most part civil, but with enough irreverence to keep it interesting. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. Astros County is great. I go to fangraphs for the stats not the articles, but their prospect stuff is still top notch. If you’re a longhorn fan, the Astros thread on shaggytexas.com can be good but the activity is low.
People get upset about the NFL too. They hate the commercial, kick off, more commercials sequence. It's unneeded additional time that people do not like. Football has always been about the same length of game. College football has started to get too long and people complain about that too. Football and basketball have a clock, so the game is about what it is. Not much you can do. Baseball is just completely different, not comparable to football.
Agree with a lot here. Cameron and Sullivan carried Fangraphs. Sullivan is hit or miss, but with Cameron the misses weren't as noticeable. Sawchik is decent when talking baseball. He's written too much on the slow offseason. Prospect guys are great, but KATOH always gave them a nice anchor to keep them from going too far towards raw tools. Fangraphs audio is dead not counting effectively wild. The Athletic has good stuff for a price. Kaplan has been doing good in that environment. They have been pillaging good writers in different markets. I've used this to fill in some slack in Fangraphs. Hoping Fangraphs gets back to normal with baseball.
As Brian McCann squatted behind home plate in November at Dodger Stadium, waiting for Corey Seager to get set in the batter’s box, he looked out at pitcher Charlie Morton and had a moment. They were about to clinch the Houston Astros’ first World Series title, but McCann was not thinking about the here and now. He was thinking back some 16 years earlier, when he and Morton met for the first time — as sinewy, fresh-faced teenagers who had traveled across the country to play in a showcase tournament. “There were two outs in the ninth and we’re up four runs and I’m just sitting there, like this is pretty neat,” McCann said recently at the Astros’ spring training camp. “It’s all come full circle.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/...lights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront
