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Personally I like epically long 15-20 inning games, they become pretty amusing to watch after a while. Of course it sucks i you are at the game and have to leave early, therefore can't see how the game ends.
I wonder if maybe to cut down on those long 4-5-6+ hour games if some sort of mini home run derby should be used instead.
Or maybe some other system.
Maybe that would be more entertaining.
Do you prefer the keep playing until someone wins
or
would you prefer some new system?
Personally I like epically long 15-20 inning games, they become pretty amusing to watch after a while. Of course it sucks i you are at the game and have to leave early, therefore can't see how the game ends.
I wonder if maybe to cut down on those long 4-5-6+ hour games if some sort of mini home run derby should be used instead.
Or maybe some other system.
Maybe that would be more entertaining.
Do you prefer the keep playing until someone wins
or
would you prefer some new system?
I don't mind being there at a long game, it gives me more time to eat more since I go for the food and not really the game anyway. I don't watch television so I never see any games on television.
I wonder if maybe to cut down on those long 4-5-6+ hour games if some sort of mini home run derby should be used instead.
Right, since the Home Run is the sine qua non of baseball. Certainly woldn't want a Stolen Base Derby or a Long Throw From The Outfield Derby or a Drag Bunt Derby.
Preserve the principle that Winning is not the only thing, Home Runs are.
The 26-inning game in 1920 took 3:50 to play. Last Saturday, the Red Sox and Angels played a 9-inning game that took longer than that. Four-hour-plus games are not the fault of extra innings, they are the fault of commercial breaks, about 40 minutes per game.
In 1920, games started at four oclock, there were no lights, and it was presumed that spectators would be home by supper time.
One wonders how they did it. An outfielder runs more than a mile in a game, just running out to his position and back. That would take even a track star in competition at least five minutes. A jogging outfielder probably ten minutes, just commuting to his position. A center fielder, in a 17 year career, just running out to his position and back between innings, runs farther than from New York to San Francisco.
Right, since the Home Run is the sine qua non of baseball. Certainly woldn't want a Stolen Base Derby or a Long Throw From The Outfield Derby or a Drag Bunt Derby.
How about a "getting awarded first base on catcher's interference " derby?
If I have watched a game from the beginning, it will typically be with me having planned to devote three hours to the affair. When it extends beyond that it often interferes with plans for something else and I get annoyed. On the other hand if I had been unable to watch a game that interested me because of some other plans, and then I get home and discover the game is still going on in extra innings, I'll like that and settle down to watch, hoping it goes on for some time.
The biggest conflict is usually sleep. If a west coast game is still going at the time I am ready to call it a night, I keep hanging on for "one more inning" to see things resolved and each inning it is extended at that point, I'm having to decide if I'll give it another inning or just bag it and go to sleep. Often sleep prevails even when I determine to stay awake.
I think a compromise of some sort would be okay. Retain extra inning games, but set a 15 inning limit. If still tied after that, then some sort of sudden death competition could be employed to determine the winner and send everyone home. Rather than making that sudden death dependent upon the skills of one individual, they could alter the situation to make scoring very likely. Start the tie breaker inning off with runners alrady on second and third...something like that.
Start the tie breaker inning off with runners alrady on second and third...something like that.
That makes a lot of sense. Or play 4-out innings, or score a run for a runner reaching third base.
I think hockey has toyed with idea of sudden death overtime with reduced players on the ice for half-length periods. Five men for the first OT period, four men for the next, etc. Maybe baseball could start removing defensive players from the field. Or make them play with 1940 gloves.
Part of me wants to be the purist, and really, the number of games that go even 14 innings is very small, and the game can tolerate a rare outlier without needing to change the basic rules of play and strategy as the game proceeds.
That makes a lot of sense. Or play 4-out innings, or score a run for a runner reaching third base.
I think hockey has toyed with idea of sudden death overtime with reduced players on the ice for half-length periods. Five men for the first OT period, four men for the next, etc. Maybe baseball could start removing defensive players from the field. Or make them play with 1940 gloves.
Part of me wants to be the purist, and really, the number of games that go even 14 innings is very small, and the game can tolerate a rare outlier without needing to change the basic rules of play and strategy as the game proceeds.
In the regular season, NHL plays 4 on 4 for 5 minutes, if the game is still tied after the OT, there is a shootout. They made this change 7 years ago. In the playoffs, it is 5 on 5 sudden death until someone wins, that will (probably) never change.
An example right now of what I noted as the good aspect of extra inning games.
The A's are hosting the Yankees in a game which began at 12:35 Pacific time. I wasn't able to start watching it until a bit after 3 pm and turned it on hoping to see the last inning or two.
That was an hour ago and it is the top of the 12th, tied at 2 each.
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