Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a great start.
Have MLB’s rules changes had an impact on the game’s popularity? You could make a strong argument it has. The attendance numbers for this past weekend are off the charts.
Per MLB’s announcement, over the weekend, encompassing 44 dates, 1,542,409 people attended games. The average attendance per game on back-to-back weekends was 35,000. That hasn’t happened in eight years. There are other upbeat numbers, which I won’t bore you with, other than to write the fans are coming out.
Time of game, combined with more action on the field as the result of rules changes, are making for a better product and bringing back the fans. For example, look at Yankees-Red Sox. In recent seasons their games would go beyond four hours. Yawn! Most of their matchups this season have been under three hours.
Saturday night’s debacle in Colorado, where the Angels destoryed the Rockies 25-1, took under three hours (2:53) to play, and that game included a 13-run inning. The games in London between the Cardinals and Cubs were manageable. The first game lasted under three hours and the second contest 3:04. That is a far cry from when the Yankees and Red Sox played two, five-hour games in London in 2019. If you want to grow the game internationally, the times of the Cards-Cubs contests work.
There are also surprise teams making a run. Arizona leads the NL West. The Giants have bounced back. The Dodgers have come back to the field. The Marlins are opening eyes with their play in the NL East, and the Cincinnati Reds have a team finally worthy of a great baseball city. Tampa Bay is Tampa Bay, owners of the game’s best record. Baltimore is back and even though the Cardinals have been a first half disappointment, the fans in St. Louis always turn out for the games.
The people who run the game, the commissioner especially, always come in for criticism, some of it unwarranted. Maybe it’s too early for them to take bows at how the game is beginning to resonate once again, but it is not too early to at least give them a round of applause.
Time for a rule change?
As long as we are talking baseball, rules changes and pace-of-play, is it time to revisit one of the game’s rules changes? A few years back, before the pitch clock and banning the shifts, MLB tried to limit the dead time by prohibiting the number of pitching changes in an inning, on the premise a pitching change slowed down the action. Now, when a relief pitcher enters, he must pitch to at least three batters. The rule essentially outlaws the relief specialist (usually a lefty) from facing just one batter.
With the other rules helping to move the game along, isn’t it time to resurrect the old rule, allowing a manager to bring in a specialist to face one batter? Because the pace-of-play and action on the field seem to be a hit, I wonder how much time would be added to the game, if the old rule was revived? Maybe the rules makers limit the number of pitchers on a roster, or maybe a manager should be allowed one or two moves in the course of a game to utilize the relief specialist for one batter. Whatever, now that games are moving along, I think reviving the old rule would add drama to a game already on the upswing.
How about winning the tournament Rory?
So Rory McIlroy threw the The Travelers Championship under the bus, after Sunday’s final round, when his 18-under-par placed him in seventh place, five shots behind winner Keegan Bradley. McIlroy called the golf course “obsolete,” suggesting with today’s players and the equipment used it is too easy for the pros. Forty-four golfers finished at -10 or better for the tournament.
McIlroy’s comments are not new. Having covered many a Travelers at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT, I have heard those comments before, but the course can play difficult at times. And River Highlands is not the only course on the tour that plays “obsolete” on occasion. Besides, the PGA officials scrutinize each course to make sure it meets professional standards. River Highlands has passed that test with flying colors.
In otherwords, McIlroy’s comments sound more like sour grapes. You could make a case McIlroy’s quotes (He’s the media’s favorite go-to guy for comments) are becoming obsolete. Not taking anything away from McIlroy’s career, but he has not won a major tournament in nine years. Besides, if TPC River Highlands is so easy to play, as McIlroy suggests, why didn’t he win the tournament?
That is it for this week’s newsletter. As always, thank you for your support and have a terrific week.
SPORTSCASTER DAN