Mike Masnick ✅@cathygellis I am sorry to report...
Cathy Gellis@mmasnick Why not just have the games played by gibbons? Install a slip-n-slide on the third base path to encourage more stealing? Make the random baseball explosive?
Darwin Woodka@cathygellis @mmasnick I would watch that
@darwinwoodka @cathygellis i mean, it works for the Savannah Bananas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5RkB7_qNh8
How the Savannah Bananas have become the greatest show in baseball | SportsCenter
Baseball that's gone bananas
@mmasnick @darwinwoodka I THOUGHT I WAS KIDDING
Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦
Half Cocked Law@cathygellis @mmasnick I see you've been watching the Savannah Bananas
Adrian Lopez
Anthony Larson@mmasnick what does the double hook DH rule do in practice?
Steve Bellovin@mmasnick @cathygellis Ugh. I’m not even fond of the pitch clock, and my opinion of the ghost runner in extra innings would require a content warning on my post.
suldrew 🚲🏳️🌈@suldrew @SteveBellovin @cathygellis the pitch click is great. has made the games more watchable (and I LOVE baseball). And nearly every poll has found that the vast majority of fans love it.
JD
Patrick Hills@mmasnick @suldrew @SteveBellovin @cathygellis hard disagree. One of the great things about baseball is that it takes as long as it takes. Clocks are a betrayal to the game. It feels rushed. It doesn’t feel like baseball. If speed is someone’s thing perhaps they’re watching the wrong sport?
The only good new rule I can get onboard with is the new infield shift rules. Lots more small ball. *That’s* the thing that’s made the most difference.
@patrickhills @suldrew @SteveBellovin @cathygellis i mean, that's how i thought i would feel. but after watching games this year, I've completely changed my mind on that. The games are so much better to watch.
And, again, the majority of fans seem to agree.
I kinda feel like the whole "we like long games" thing was a crutch that we all used to push back on baseball haters.
@suldrew @SteveBellovin @mmasnick @cathygellis I am absolutely not a baseball fan, but I am a curling fan. Curling has a clock too... and probably for the same reason that baseball does, to keep the game from spiraling into boredom. It's for the entire game rather than per shot or per end. Perhaps the real problem with baseball is the game has become too long, and they need to set a timer on the whole game, no matter how many innings get played...
@suldrew @SteveBellovin @mmasnick @cathygellis Don't other games have clocks too? The ones I know, hockey, soccer, basketball, all have what amounts to game timers of varying amounts. Do these games also feel rushed? I think baseball has just be come too languid and could use some reason to not become like cricket. 🙃
Ramontron@mmasnick @cathygellis it’s like the MTV Rock and Jock game.
Kevin Hardiman@mmasnick @cathygellis a designated pinch runner would dramatically change the game. Imagine Ricky Henderson being put on base at any time… for every team.
Mark@mmasnick @cathygellis The designated pinch runner sounds like a way to help fast guys who can't hit but can steal bases and play center field be on an mlb team. The next shoe to drop is a having second DH in the lineup. MLB is desperate to attract young fans.
Radix@Mea @mmasnick @cathygellis 26 players, any of whom can appear at any position at any moment, and come into and out of the game with no notice.
Also the rules are made up and the points don't matter.
Jeffrey Vagle@mmasnick @cathygellis The road to blernsball.
M.S. Bellows, Jr.@mmasnick @cathygellis
Crazy thought:
Baseball was incredibly popular in the era between when Babe Ruth was still a pitcher to when Joe DiMaggio finally retired.
Maybe we should go back to the rules of the game that Ruth and DiMaggio played.
RowinSpeez@msbellows @mmasnick @cathygellis I would love if they just brought back smoking in dugouts, not encourage it or anything, just allow it.
@msbellows @cathygellis baseball also didn't have to compete with other major sports then, nor was it on TV. Nor did it have to compete with social media.
Times change. We might not agree with every change, but making the game better is a worthy goal.
@msbellows @cathygellis old timey baseball can be like renaissance fair material.
@mmasnick @cathygellis And now I hate you just a little bit, Mike.
Not much. But a little.
@msbellows @mmasnick Mike and I agree on about 98% of all things. But when we disagree... oof.
@cathygellis @mmasnick I still love Mike even when he's wrong.
Rufus J. Cooter@mmasnick @msbellows @cathygellis You joke, but when I try to watch a game lately, I feel like Frye watching Blernsball
FUTURAMA | Season 1, Episode 5: Best Of Blernsball | SYFY
@RufusJCooter @mmasnick @cathygellis I firmly believe there's a chicken and egg problem here. Our attention spans are much shorter nowadays, which makes it difficult to watch baseball, but if we all just listened to baseball games on AM radio like we used to while we washed the car our attention spans probably would improve.
@msbellows @mmasnick @cathygellis Here here!
AM Radio baseball story: Buddy of mine had a health emergency in '95 & was hospitalized for several months; hospital room had no TV, just a radio. Wasn't much of a baseball fan until then, but w/o many options, started listening to Mariners games right when they were starting to get hot
Was finally well enough to get the needed surgery, convinced the docs to wait until after the ALDS was finished +
@msbellows @mmasnick @cathygellis + was given a clean bill of health & sent home a few days later.
To this day, he blames himself for the M's losing the ALCS in '95, because he watched it on TV, rather than listening to it on the radio
@RufusJCooter @mmasnick @cathygellis Superb story, and he was right: he jinxed it! (Cancels today's haircut appointment, puts on cap backwards.)
Sam Gross@mmasnick @cathygellis This just in, the Oakland Athletics have signed Usain Bolt to a one-year, $5m deal.
@SamTheGeek @cathygellis and here's where i chew some bubble gum, stare out at the horizon, spit on the field, and say in my wizened voice, "well, sam, stealing is about more than speed."
Joe Fabisevich 
@SamTheGeek @mmasnick @cathygellis Tell that to the failed Herb Washington experiment. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Washington
@mergesort @mmasnick @cathygellis 31 stolen in 48 attempts and a World Series ring doesn’t exactly sound unsuccessful.
@SamTheGeek @mmasnick @cathygellis Well 31/48 is decently below league average, but it’s true that you can’t beat a ring.