We are approaching the pace-of-game issue incorrectly.
Rather than obsessing on how to shorten the time between pitches, we should be fixating on how to make the time between pitches more interesting to fans.
Actually, there should be efforts to speed up the game, particularly in limiting mound visits by catchers, coaches and managers, and forbidding hitters to leave the batter’s box once a plate appearance is underway. Commissioner-in-waiting Rob Manfred has pace of game as a central issue, which is why it is a front-and-center topic again.
But, let’s face it, even if the greatest editing job were done, we are talking about trimming, what … 10 minutes? Going from a three-hour game to 2:50? Even at a good pace, we are talking 12-15 seconds between pitches, more than enough time to leave for the concession stands at the game or channel surf to two or three other destinations from a sofa.
What is needed – among other things — is a better way to captivate fans between pitches. I offer something I hope marries a traditional element of the sport with the modern.
Look in the crowd during the game and you often see empty seats – the curse and blessing of the modern stadiums that have ways to get you to spend at the park, but at the cost of disinterest in the product – or heads down looking at cells for texting, tweeting, Facebooking, etc. How can we keep those in their seats engaged and use the technology that already is in so many hands?
My suggestion: Each team hires someone who really understands game strategy. Then 10, 15, 20 times a game – as much as feels right or the on-field product allows – have the person quickly put up questions on the board and bottom of the TV screen. Runner on first, no out in the sixth of a tie game: Should Terry Collins a) sacrifice b) hit-and-run c) straight steal d) swing away? Starter beginning to fade, big hitter on deck, should Joe Girardi a) stick with Shane Greene or b) relieve with Dellin Betances? Lefty or righty reliever? Double-steal? Suicide squeeze? Infield in or not? Which pinch-hitter?
Text your answer to (fill-in-the-blank). Then have the poll results instantly update on the board – and also on the TV scroll, because the questions also go out to viewers. Then, at the park, begin to put on the scoreboard information pertaining to the decision: Show, for example, how many sacrifices the Mets have attempted this year, what their success rate is and what the league averages are.
Think of it as a real-time tutorial as you get armed with information that now gets fed to managers to actually make these decisions.
For the record, then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck tried a rudimentary version of this in an August 1951 game.
I fear we are losing a great part of baseball – talking the game – because folks are abandoning seats or flipping channels. Baseball also must embrace what it is – a sport that unfurls at a pace that allows for conversation about what is taking place, particularly because the strategy is more understood. We probably don’t know what play the Thunder should run for Kevin Durant or what the proper blocking technique is on the Jets’ draw play.
But my dad could and did play manager as we watched games together, explaning the possible strategies and encouraging me to play along. This could be done now on a grander level, enhanced (hopefully) by the voluminous stats that could better draw out the percentages of each option. It would be a constant education that also engrosses the spectator/viewer, has them thinking along with the game and, thus, more unlikely to flee it.
Obviously, not everyone at the game or at home would be interested. Some might be annoyed by the continued encroachment of the technology. But the game is trying to stay current and attract younger fans. This might be a way to get them involved and invested.
Managers will despise having another venue in which their decisions are challenged. Though, when I posed that to Hall of Fame skipper Joe Torre, who also is involved in the pace-of-game issue as an MLB VP, he said, “Maybe some of the managers will get some good ideas from it.”
He chuckled, but then said, “It is intriguing. It would give fans something to do no matter the length of the game.”
And that is the point. A baseball game is going to take about three hours even with success in trimming here or there. We have been to 90-minute movies that drag, and no one cared that “The Godfather” was three hours because it was filled with so much good stuff. The idea here is to fill the three hours of baseball with more good stuff that captivates and makes the game more enjoyable. It is not a panacea. More must be done to keep the game modern and attractive. It is meant just as a piece to that puzzle.
Instead of the time between pitches being such a calamity for the sport, what if we could find a way to use a perceived weakness as a strength?
A’s and Tigers more dead than alive since deadline
On July 31, there was pretty much a coronation for the A’s and Tigers. They were first-place teams that did what we want all of our squads to do — not rest on previous accomplishments, but rather go for it.
The Tigers led the AL Central by five games when they obtained David Price from the Rays in a three-team deal that cost them center fielder Austin Jackson and starter Drew Smyly. Having Price along with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander meant the Tigers had the AL’s last three Cy Young winners plus Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello.
Yet, since July 31, the A’s are 7-10 and the Tigers 8-10. Oakland had fallen a percentage point behind the Angels in the AL West. In 13-of-17 games since dealing Cespedes, the A’s have scored three or fewer runs, totaling just 11 during their current losing streak, which reached five games Sunday with Lester being defeated.
Detroit not only has fallen out of first in the AL Central, but if the season had ended Sunday, the Tigers would not have even been one of the two wild cards. They added Price, but lost Sanchez and Verlander to injury.
Obviously, there is still a quarter-season left and Oakland and Detroit are very good teams that could (should?) right themselves. But if they don’t, I wonder if this will chill some teams in the future from making big July 31 deals, realizing there really are no sure things.