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posted by takyon on Friday February 24 2017, @06:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the take-a-walk dept.

From the Huffington Post:

Major League Baseball is about to make a major rule change, altering how intentional walks are handed out. Instead of a pitcher throwing four pitches out of the strike zone, the walk will be awarded by a signal from the dugout, ESPN reported Tuesday night.

The network said the league and its union have agreed to the change, which will take effect this season. MLB has been trying to make its games shorter. However, The Wall Street Journal said last week that the change would save an average of 14 seconds per game.

Fans are not happy about the change, with many pointing out that botched intentional walks have led to game-changing moments.

Wikipedia: Intentional base on balls.


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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Grishnakh on Friday February 24 2017, @06:22AM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday February 24 2017, @06:22AM (#471022)

    Baseball was always a horribly boring game to watch, really no better than watching some silly children's game. Its heyday was decades ago. Obviously, this proposed rule change is proof they're trying desperately to keep it relevant, but it's too late. It'll be dead within another decade. And good riddance.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Friday February 24 2017, @08:31AM

      by davester666 (155) on Friday February 24 2017, @08:31AM (#471035)

      This isn't a desperate move, just a stupid one. It only saves about a minute per game, and only happens in about 25% of games...

      If they had done something about speeding up each pitch, like not letting the batter step out of the batter's box after every pitch and then go through a 30 second ritual to get "set" for the pitch, that would actually help EVERY SINGLE GAME.

      A "desperate" move would be moving the bases in, so they can run around the bases faster...or disallowing cleats (that would be hilarious).

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @01:32PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @01:32PM (#471089)

        More time for commercials.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Friday February 24 2017, @03:00PM

        by sjames (2882) on Friday February 24 2017, @03:00PM (#471124) Journal

        Perhaps rather than outright ban stepping out, just add a rule that will cause peer pressure. If the batter steps out, all runners must tag up and cannot retake their lead off until the batter returns to the box and sets.

        They should keep the intentional walk the way it is for a simple reason. That, like many other well known plays isn't a special rule of the sport, but simply isn't against the rules. Occasionally it ends in a passed ball and runners advance.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @04:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @04:01PM (#471140)

        They _are_ doing something about the pitching, they've already introduced a pitch clock into the minor leagues and in 2018 they'll be introducing it into the majors.

        IIRC, the pitcher will only get 20 seconds in order to throw the pitch.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday February 25 2017, @03:15AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Saturday February 25 2017, @03:15AM (#471403) Homepage

          Baseball is a game made up almost entirely of judgment calls. Adding a pitch clock goes against the spirit of the game. Also, the ump can already penalize the pitcher for delay of game, so the clock is just more horeseshit tweaking by people who understand marketing but don't understand baseball.

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 4, Informative) by NotSanguine on Friday February 24 2017, @09:30AM

      by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Friday February 24 2017, @09:30AM (#471046) Homepage Journal

      Baseball was always a horribly boring game to watch, really no better than watching some silly children's game. Its heyday was decades ago. Obviously, this proposed rule change is proof they're trying desperately to keep it relevant, but it's too late. It'll be dead within another decade. And good riddance.

      Don't like it? Don't watch or play it then. That wasn't too difficult was it?

      You're also pretty uninformed as well. Millions of people watch MLB games on television and online [fangraphs.com], Across the US, nearly half a million people attend games just about every day during the regular season [baseball-reference.com], and many millions more play baseball. So no, baseball is not dying. It's not even ailing.

      tl;dr: You're talking out of your ass and it smells that way too.

      Rob Manfred [wikipedia.org] has and is doing a bunch of stupid shit. Hopefully he'll stop.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Friday February 24 2017, @03:25PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday February 24 2017, @03:25PM (#471129)

        Millions of people watch MLB games on television and online,

        Only Americans, who are also the people dumb enough to elect Trump and watch NASCAR and Honey Boo Boo. No one in the civilized world gives two shits about this horribly boring "sport" which completely lacks any athleticism.

        • (Score: 2) by lentilla on Friday February 24 2017, @04:52PM

          by lentilla (1770) on Friday February 24 2017, @04:52PM (#471168)

          "sport" which completely lacks any athleticism

          There is a lot to be said in favour of sports that "lack athleticism" - the kind of sport where "normal people" can participate. Head out on a nice afternoon and play with a couple of mates in the backyard or the local park, with a minimum of equipment - and play to a level that is enjoyable for everyone.

          We would all be healthier and happier if - instead of "watching" sport - we played it ourselves. Crack a decent sweat, have a laugh and spend the rest of the day on a high.

          Sure, it's good to see athletes at the peek of their physical performance play a skilful game after many weeks of 40 hours-per-week practice, but it's better for everyone if it's us kicking a ball around the yard instead.

          • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday February 24 2017, @05:17PM

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday February 24 2017, @05:17PM (#471188)

            There is a lot to be said in favour of sports that "lack athleticism" - the kind of sport where "normal people" can participate.

            Right and wrong. If you're talking about a game meant for being played by "normal people", just for fun and leisure, sure. For something meant to be played by elites and observed by others, no. Would you watch an Olympic competition for walking around a circle? Of course not; anyone can do that, and there's no reason to regard people who walk as superb examples of the human physique. The Olympics are supposed to be about showing the pinnacle of human physical achievement, so it involves competitions like gymnastics, races, etc., things that only the best-trained humans will win at, and which many humans can't even compete. Hitting a ball and running around a circle simply doesn't qualify as a valid competition here. But if you just want a simple and boring game for your non-athletic friends to play, that's perfectly fine, just don't get any ideas about making it a serious sport to be played by true athletes.

            We would all be healthier and happier if - instead of "watching" sport - we played it ourselves. Crack a decent sweat, have a laugh and spend the rest of the day on a high.

            Sounds good to me. But Major League Baseball is not like this. It's about sitting on your ass and watching some other people whack a ball and slowly job around a circle.

            • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Chillgamesh on Friday February 24 2017, @08:36PM

              by Chillgamesh (4619) on Friday February 24 2017, @08:36PM (#471306)

              Baseball is a precision skill game and not an endurance game, except for pitchers. Different from both kinds of football

        • (Score: 2, Informative) by NotSanguine on Friday February 24 2017, @05:32PM

          by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Friday February 24 2017, @05:32PM (#471201) Homepage Journal

          No one in the civilized world gives two shits about this horribly boring "sport" which completely lacks any athleticism.

          Yup, no civilized country ever has anything to do with baseball [worldbaseballclassic.com]. Only third-world backwaters like Canada, Italy, Australia, Japan, The Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK [wikipedia.org] to name a few have any interest in baseball at all.

          I wish someone from a civilized country would show these backwater hellholes the error of their ways.

          Once again, you're talking out of your ass and it smells that way too.

          --
          No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 24 2017, @07:24PM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 24 2017, @07:24PM (#471277) Journal

            Well - I should point out that I'm an American, and I don't give a small damn about baseball. I mean, I went to my son's games when they were playing Pee-Wee, and Little League. I didn't give a damn about the game, I only went for my boys. Ditto with football. Basketball is even lower on my scale of useless things. I made excuses to miss the boy's basketball games. Seriously, I just couldn't be bothered with it. I only attended a game if I couldn't find a good enough excuse.

            If I had to choose between sitting through a professional sports game, or hitting myself on the head with a hammer, I'd have to think about it for awhile.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 24 2017, @07:17PM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 24 2017, @07:17PM (#471275) Journal

          "which completely lacks any athleticism."

          Not fair! You take that back! Baseball involves bar-bends, which burn a lot of energy. People all over America pop tops, and lift beers to their mouths throughout the game. Athleticism at it's finest!
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          Dammit, what happened to the sarcasm font?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @09:53PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @09:53PM (#471335)

          Only Americans, who are also the people dumb enough to elect Trump

          It isn't that, Trump got elected because too many namby-pamby shithead millennials didn't do jack shit to vote. They think they come off as nihilistically cool to not vote, which is why they tell you at every instance that they didn't vote. Like you, it is far easier to bitch about a situation than to actively participate and do something about it. Brexit happened the same way. Dipshits like you are the dog shit on the sole of society where you just want to scrape you off and leave you behind because you add absolutely no value to society nor to discourse.

          • (Score: 1, Troll) by Grishnakh on Friday February 24 2017, @10:27PM

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday February 24 2017, @10:27PM (#471346)

            Wrong. It's not the "namby-pamby" Millennials who love baseball, it's the Trump voters. Statistics show that most baseball fans in the US are over the age of 55, so they're clearly in Trump-voter territory. Bash the Millennials all you want, I'm just pointing out that baseball voters are dumb, and coincide with Trump voters. I never said that a vast majority of Americans were baseball fans (or Trump voters for that matter), only that it was mainly America where baseball has any real popularity.

            Similarly, NASCAR is a purely American interest, but that doesn't mean that most Americans care about it.

            Dipshits like you are the dog shit on the sole of society who can't even understand basic logic and set theory.

            • (Score: 2) by Hawkwind on Friday February 24 2017, @11:39PM

              by Hawkwind (3531) on Friday February 24 2017, @11:39PM (#471365)

              Beyond the age reference as far as I know your off. I'm under the impression nationwide baseball demographics cut across social groups (in N California I would say we're rather liberal). And the international following is growing, which continues to raise the quality of the talent pool.

              And dumb, compared to other US sports fans? Again I'm under the impression that baseball's nerd base is the strongest you'll find in American sports.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday February 25 2017, @03:17AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Saturday February 25 2017, @03:17AM (#471404) Homepage
          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
          • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday February 25 2017, @09:30PM

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday February 25 2017, @09:30PM (#471621)

            To be fair, Japan is a really, really odd country and not at all like any other country in the world. You're talking about a country where their idea of a game show is to have regular people running around elaborate obstacle courses and risking severe injury. I won't even go into how weird the porn is there.

            But overall, worldwide, baseball is simply not a very popular sport. The only place it has any real popularity is the US, Japan as you pointed out, and Cuba, and maybe one or two other Caribbean islands. And even in the US it's in decline, with most of its fans being retirement aged; basketball and American football are the popular sports here now. In the rest of the world, soccer (association football) is generally the most popular. Hockey is the most popular in nearby Canada.

            • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Saturday February 25 2017, @10:51PM

              by Reziac (2489) on Saturday February 25 2017, @10:51PM (#471652) Homepage

              A few stats:

              http://chartsbin.com/view/33104 [chartsbin.com]
              (India? cricket?!)

              http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/sports/baseball.htm [topendsports.com]
              (apparently using Google searches as a proxy)

              Baseball is certainly an acquired taste, perhaps in part because it's a cerebral game -- sort of chess with warm bodies, often described as a "game of inches" not just for how by design it has so many close plays. Probably the next closest that way is sumo, where the preliminary psyching is the real match and the action is just how you keep score. (Perhaps not coincidentally, also primarily Japanese.) But we no longer teach that patience to our youth; now it's all about instant gratification and the fun of the moment, and they just can't understand the appeal of a game built on precision and restraint.

              A lot of what used to be warm-body fandoms have wandered off to the internet and computer gaming world, but I'd hazard that declining MLB attendance has a great deal more to do with ticket prices -- as little as 30 years ago you could get decent season tickets for a hundred bucks. Now that'll buy you a bare handful of nosebleed-seats. And the changes made in the name of improving attendance by making every team more "competitive" have done the opposite; when anyone can win it all, there's far less reason to care. Meanwhile, community college games are still packed.

              --
              And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Paradise Pete on Friday February 24 2017, @10:41AM

      by Paradise Pete (1806) on Friday February 24 2017, @10:41AM (#471053)

      Sports Go Sports [youtube.com]

    • (Score: 2) by stretch611 on Friday February 24 2017, @11:37AM

      by stretch611 (6199) on Friday February 24 2017, @11:37AM (#471061)

      Lets just add a big rubber band and attach it to the ball... And then we can watch the much more enjoyable blernsball.

      https://theinfosphere.org/Blernsball [theinfosphere.org]

      --
      Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @05:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @05:06PM (#471180)

        they finally jazzed it up

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @03:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @03:04PM (#471126)

      For all the baseball fans out there let me just say for them, "Fuck you ignorant fuck."
      Baseball is boring to watch when you don't understand baseball.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday February 24 2017, @06:57PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Friday February 24 2017, @06:57PM (#471254)

        I went to the ballpark twice, sitting halfway up once and down the right side once.
        You barely see the ball. You see guys standing there waiting for a ball to come their way. The pitcher, catcher and batter are the only ones working until there's a hit, but you can't see with your own eyes the subtle moves which might make it interesting. Then they throw the ball at each other waiting for the end of the commercial break.
        You're better off at home drinking normal-priced beer.

        They also need to stop spitting.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @04:05PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @04:05PM (#471141)

      It's not horribly boring. If you want horribly boring, I'm sure there's a soccer game somewhere to watch.

      The main thing about baseball that gets boring is the overemphasis on power hitters swinging for the fences. If you've got a team like the 2001 Mariners that are getting most of their runs with singles and doubles, the game is much more interesting to watch.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @05:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @05:07PM (#471182)

      They should allow fighting, like in hockey and football.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Friday February 24 2017, @09:08PM

      by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Friday February 24 2017, @09:08PM (#471317) Homepage Journal

      I wonder why you were modded troll?

      I mean if someone disagrees with you, they should make an argument, not mod you as a troll.

      I think that anyone who would do that has little intellectual capacity and a lack of any real principles.

      Don't you agree, Grishnakh?

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @06:25AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @06:25AM (#471024)

    So, a report about an irelevant children's game rule change about a silly bat and ball game is now worth reporting?....

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @06:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @06:41AM (#471026)

      Children don't play ball! It's too dangerous outside, what with all the terrorists, and the protesters, and the presidential ogre who eats the bones of children.

      • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday February 24 2017, @09:45AM

        by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Friday February 24 2017, @09:45AM (#471049)

        Silly, he doesn't eat the bones. When he finishes, he gives them to the Esquimaux wizard Ban'n'on, who then summons the Swamp Wizards to perform the ritual and raise the Elder Gods.

          "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

        --
        Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by nyder on Friday February 24 2017, @08:38AM

    by nyder (4525) on Friday February 24 2017, @08:38AM (#471038)

    Intentional walks are stupid. Get rid of them. And while you are at it, put baseball back on free tv so I can watch it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @01:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @01:34PM (#471090)

      Get rid of them? ...You mean, make it against the rules to throw a ball outside of the strike zone?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 24 2017, @01:56PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 24 2017, @01:56PM (#471099) Journal
        I think the problem here is all these rules. Just throw 50 cute cats and a baseball out on the field. Nobody will care any more when the game is supposed to end.

        Commentator: "Dawwww... Fluffeh is batting at Tricksy for getting in her personal space. Will they ever be friends?!"

        Commentator2: "And check out Carlos in left field! That's a cat who knows how to chill."

      • (Score: 2) by tibman on Friday February 24 2017, @04:08PM

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 24 2017, @04:08PM (#471142)

        Four balls outside the strike zone in a row? Yeah, just count that as a homerun or something.

        --
        SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
  • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday February 24 2017, @05:21PM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday February 24 2017, @05:21PM (#471191) Homepage

    ...but after five minutes of Wikipedia-ing I'm still none-the-wiser as to why they do this in the first place.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday February 24 2017, @05:24PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday February 24 2017, @05:24PM (#471194) Homepage

      Oop, just got it. It robs the batter of the chance to get any further than first base.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @09:36PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @09:36PM (#471328)

        It is mostly used in a situation where you have a runner on second base, or runners on second and third, with one or two outs and a decent batter coming to bat, and a lesser batter behind him. It sets up a scenario where you force all the runners to run on a hit ball, where if there was no one on first base, the other runners would not be forced to run. This allows the fielding team to get the out at any of the bases, instead of waiting to see if any of the other runners decide to advance.

        It is certainly a calculated risk to purposefully put more runners on base and when it works you look like a genius (and it looks awfully stupid when it doesn't work).