How to Revolutionize Baseball: Extra Innings

by Dex on Apr 19, 2008 2:52 AM PDT

Here's a way to revolutionize baseball and take care of the problem of games going way too long and take advantage of those skills we all learned playing backyard games of 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 baseball.

This is a good one.

If a game is tied at the end of nine, you are only allowed three extra innings of regular play. This takes care of about 80-90% of extra innings games. However, if you get into the 13th inning, something revolutionary happens... Both teams continue play with one fewer man in the lineup.

Play continues with both teams losing guys until the 19th inning when both teams have just two guys left on the field. In situations where there are men on base, but not enough players, use ghost runners.

This would not only make extra extra innings games extremely interesting, it also puts the managers' skills to test as they try to decide who to lose in every inning. At the very end, do you have a pitcher and a catcher? Do you have two position players who are decent fielders? It also makes baseball more accessible to kids who can't gather 18 people for a game because suddenly, games of 4-on-4 actually have meaning in "real world" game situations.

Somebody write the commissioner's office. We got this one figured out.

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Comments

hmm...

while it may shorten the games innings-wise, once you start taking people from the outfield you’ll open yourselves up to some very, very high scoring games. Routine outs will cease to exist.

by pjbno4 on Apr 19, 2008 6:08 AM PDT reply actions

not that high scoring

I could see innings of 4-6 runs very easily, but that kind of inning will end the game one way or another. If you have a halfway decent pitcher, i don’t think the 14th inning would be all that different except a pop fly might land for a base hit a little bit more often or a grounder would get through in infield. it would depend on how the manager would set up 8.

by Dex on Apr 19, 2008 6:41 AM PDT up reply actions

i meant 13th.

by Dex on Apr 19, 2008 6:42 AM PDT up reply actions

Eh

if you can’t win the game under normal rules, just call it a tie, no reason to start making up arbitrary rules.

But if we are intent on shortening games, just put a time limit on extra innings. No more innings can start after an hour, and If the game isn’t over, then it is a tie.

by osbug on Apr 19, 2008 9:00 AM PDT reply actions