We've had tons of threads lamenting the lack of offense in Atlanta in recent weeks. In reality, offensive is significantly down across MLB. With that, we have the usual cries to change the rules which drives me crazy. The latest is to limit the depth of OF positioning so they don't play so deep. What the hell????
Can you imagine if football banned disguised coverages because they were too effective? Or delayed blitzes? Adapt. It's in every sport. In basketball, you can dribble down the court and encounter a different defense every single time. Somewhat the same in football with the different alignments, coverages, etc. But in baseball, any sort of strategy is met with rules changes suddenly.
MLB's problem is that they have adopted one philosophy and it's permeated the sport from the top all the way down through the minor league affiliates. 3 outcomes: walk, home run, or strike out. That'll do it. Oh yeah, and let's all now try to pull the ball incessantly. And don't forget to try to launch every shot into orbit.
Remember when the shift was a problem? I guarantee every single fan born before 1990 was screaming, "Hit the damn ball the other way, dipshit!" Or "go with the pitch." Maybe drop a bunt???? Nope. The whole league has to pull the ball so of course the shift is going to limit hitting success. Rule change!
The league is all trying to orbit the ball so now outfielders, especially center fielders, are playing much deeper. Well, of course. Everyone is aiming for an extra base so now outfields are positioning like they used to in the 8th/9th innings. "Singles are fine but we're not giving you extra base hits." Adapt. I mean I'm reading hitters complain that every time they square a ball there's a guy standing there to catch it. It's called scouting! In every other sport, when they zig, you zag. ADAPT.
I watched the Brewers last weekend and saw 2 players drop down bunt singles, a hit and run, one hitting it through the hole between 1B/2B, a sac bunt, and plenty of steals. The Brewers are 5th in scoring but 15th in home runs. 4th in OBP and 2nd in steals with 104 steals (17 caught stealing). Milwaukee's crowd and dugout was having the time of their lives. They've adapted.
We know pitching is better than ever with 95+ velocity coming at you from innings 1 through 9. Spin rates are better, scouting reports on every wrist, and pitchers have added pitches to their arsenal to where guys have 4-5 pitches to use every single night. (Remember the fastball/slider only guys? Getting more rare.)
With the aforementioned pitching advances, it sure seems like common sense for hitters to work on handling the bat more with situational hitting a large part of the game plan. Have 2-strike approaches completely been abandoned???? Adapt.
No more rule changes.
Can you imagine if football banned disguised coverages because they were too effective? Or delayed blitzes? Adapt. It's in every sport. In basketball, you can dribble down the court and encounter a different defense every single time. Somewhat the same in football with the different alignments, coverages, etc. But in baseball, any sort of strategy is met with rules changes suddenly.
MLB's problem is that they have adopted one philosophy and it's permeated the sport from the top all the way down through the minor league affiliates. 3 outcomes: walk, home run, or strike out. That'll do it. Oh yeah, and let's all now try to pull the ball incessantly. And don't forget to try to launch every shot into orbit.
Remember when the shift was a problem? I guarantee every single fan born before 1990 was screaming, "Hit the damn ball the other way, dipshit!" Or "go with the pitch." Maybe drop a bunt???? Nope. The whole league has to pull the ball so of course the shift is going to limit hitting success. Rule change!
The league is all trying to orbit the ball so now outfielders, especially center fielders, are playing much deeper. Well, of course. Everyone is aiming for an extra base so now outfields are positioning like they used to in the 8th/9th innings. "Singles are fine but we're not giving you extra base hits." Adapt. I mean I'm reading hitters complain that every time they square a ball there's a guy standing there to catch it. It's called scouting! In every other sport, when they zig, you zag. ADAPT.
I watched the Brewers last weekend and saw 2 players drop down bunt singles, a hit and run, one hitting it through the hole between 1B/2B, a sac bunt, and plenty of steals. The Brewers are 5th in scoring but 15th in home runs. 4th in OBP and 2nd in steals with 104 steals (17 caught stealing). Milwaukee's crowd and dugout was having the time of their lives. They've adapted.
We know pitching is better than ever with 95+ velocity coming at you from innings 1 through 9. Spin rates are better, scouting reports on every wrist, and pitchers have added pitches to their arsenal to where guys have 4-5 pitches to use every single night. (Remember the fastball/slider only guys? Getting more rare.)
With the aforementioned pitching advances, it sure seems like common sense for hitters to work on handling the bat more with situational hitting a large part of the game plan. Have 2-strike approaches completely been abandoned???? Adapt.
No more rule changes.
