I know some of you don't care. I've dropped all professional sports except Baseball. For those who still watch MLB, I'm wondering what you think of the bigger changes to MLB this season. I'm not a fan of the larger bases, but I love the pitch clock! 15 seconds with no runners on, 20 seconds with runner/runners on. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the restriction on pitchers of only two pick-off throws to a bag per hitter. Another one I really like is the hitter can only step out twice per ab. This along with the pitch clock have changed the game, finally!!! Now the pitchers can't meander around the mound, rubbing the ball, playing with the rosin bag, adjusting their hats, while the world waits for them. And the hitters can't keep stepping out to adjust their batting gloves after every single pitch!!!.

I've recorder several Tigers games that were replayed in the middle of the night and it was amazing how I did not feel the need to hit the FF button any time except for commercials!!! This was long overdue IMO!!!

Another side benefit that had not occurred to me until it was actually implemented is that some of these broadcasters that drag onnnnn with their tangents can't now lol.

Basketball needs some changes too ... raise the hoops another five feet !!

Now THAT I would pay money to go and see !!

What's next, less innings, no 7th inning stretch, no mascots, no hotdog, mustard, ketchup, and onion races?? Man don't the stadiums realize how this is going to cut into BEER sales? Oh and how about the fans have to give the home run and foul balls back and no new baseballs if the baseball gets scuffed from a bad pitch, they have to use the same ball the entire game just like we did as kids

Basketball needs some changes too ... raise the hoops another five feet !!

I suppose you still wear a derby hat, suit and tie to the game like they did back in the day?

I know some of you don't care. I've dropped all professional sports except Baseball. For those who still watch MLB, I'm wondering what you think of the bigger changes to MLB this season. I'm not a fan of the larger bases, but I love the pitch clock! 15 seconds with no runners on, 20 seconds with runner/runners on. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the restriction on pitchers of only two pick-off throws to a bag per hitter. Another one I really like is the hitter can only step out twice per ab. This along with the pitch clock have changed the game, finally!!! Now the pitchers can't meander around the mound, rubbing the ball, playing with the rosin bag, adjusting their hats, while the world waits for them. And the hitters can't keep stepping out to adjust their batting gloves after every single pitch!!!.

I've recorder several Tigers games that were replayed in the middle of the night and it was amazing how I did not feel the need to hit the FF button any time except for commercials!!! This was long overdue IMO!!!

Another side benefit that had not occurred to me until it was actually implemented is that some of these broadcasters that drag onnnnn with their tangents can't now lol.

I like the pitch timer, the only thing it has removed is 30 minutes of dudes scratching their hoo hoos... if you want to watch that there are other places you can go to watch that without inturupting my baseball game ever 30 seconds. This is really just a tweek to an existing rule that has been taken way too much advantage of in the last 30 years, the players asked for it. The only thing I wish they would do different is to shut off the clock with 2 outs in the 9th inning, other than that this was way over due.

Making bigger bases is stupid, what are they gonna do next to make it "safer" go to hitting off a T so the pitchers don't hurt their arm? I don't think the extra 3 inches is helping anyone steal more bases, just a psychological thing. Besides... scoring more runs is not gonna attract more fans, soccer is the fastest growing sport in America and a "good game" frequently ends tied 0-0, all my young friends on facebook post up how exciting games are when they end up 0-0 so I don't think more offense is gonna help. If someone really needs higher scores to be able to watch the game just count every run as 7 points like they do in football.

What are the penalties for these new rules like the 15/20 second delay of game clock........-5 yards like football? or is it an automatic "ball" call? This will be interesting.

In 1968 the average game was 2:27

In 2021 it was 3 hours, 3 minutes

See a problem here?

If a hitter had kept stepping out on a pitcher like Bob Gibson for example, back in 1968, he'd have knocked them on their azz.

I'm looking forward to to the pitch clock. I'm also a fan of eliminating the shift and the limitless throws over to first with a runner on.

Are you guys watching any of the WBC?? Columbia - Mexico was a heck of a game earlier today. The American lineup is absolutely loaded this year.

Slightly off tangent here, I've always said pay players a teacher's or cop's salary and see who REALLY plays for the 'love of the game', THEN I might be interested.

Anyways, back to topic...........................

What's next, less innings, no 7th inning stretch, no mascots, no hotdog, mustard, ketchup, and onion races?? Man don't the stadiums realize how this is going to cut into BEER sales? Oh and how about the fans have to give the home run and foul balls back and no new baseballs if the baseball gets scuffed from a bad pitch, they have to use the same ball the entire game just like we did as kids

The Brewers will now allow alcohol to be sold until the end of the eighth inning, via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The MLB standard usually ends alcohol sales after the seventh inning. However, at least on an experimental basis for now, the Brewers have decided to buck the trend.

“This is reflective of the fact that the games are shorter,” Brewers’ President of business operations Rick Schlesinger said. “From a time perspective, we’re probably looking at selling beer for the same amount of time by extending to the eighth inning.”

My least favorite aspect of baseball. A grown man gets his feelings hurt and responds by standing 60 feet away from the grown man who hurt his feelings and throwing a ball at him, and this is somehow viewed as tough or macho.

I get it but remember this started way back before the DH and that pitcher had to step in the box himself, and still does in the National League. Also it was usually a response to something that had happened such as the opposing pitcher hitting or throwing at one of his teammates. Nobody is for head hunters but sending a message around the waist when called for is different. Even an occasional sticking one in their back pocket if their pitcher has been head hunting. Hopefully it is infrequent!

I get it but remember this started way back before the DH and that pitcher had to step in the box himself, and still does in the National League. Also it was usually a response to something that had happened such as the opposing pitcher hitting or throwing at one of his teammates. Nobody is for head hunters but sending a message around the waist when called for is different. Even an occasional sticking one in their back pocket if their pitcher has been head hunting. Hopefully it is infrequent!

There is a DH in the national league now also. There is only one pitcher left who still gets in the batters box.

I haven't seen any games except Tigers so haven't seen any interleague. I didn't mind the shift in years past, but it got to be to frequent for me. Anyway don't want to beat a dead horse. I'm just glad to see the games played quicker and not all the standing around while these premadonnas think everyone has to wait on them. Another bonus to games moving faster is some of these long winded broadcasters can't ramble on and on! Remember Hawk Harrelson of the White Sox? Omg that guy was so annoying with his boring stories and he'd always tell them when the opposition was hitting (Tigers).

Tigers are in trouble. Casey Mize out, now Manning out (hopefully not too long), and not scoring runs. While I'm not for always blaming managers, I think it might be time for A.J. Hinch to go. Where's Alan Trammell?

I was never excited about hinch especially when he refused to put garret cole in the last game of the world series against the nationals because analytics, that move likely cost him another ring then his involvement with the cheating crap. Trammel is one of my all time favorite players but I am afraid he is too old school and would look like tony larusa did last couple years. As for this whole season we were already doomed when we traded away the one thing we had sorted out (bullpen) for a sack of used jock straps. I hope eqduardo and javier walk next year and harris finds some decent replacements, I am still bitter they passed on Marcelo Mayer in the draft, we needed a SS and he was the best guy on the board.

Lost most interest in the game after one of the player strikes when they were crying for more money & had a shortened season. Of course the greed by the owners is a huge turn off as well. I'd watch it on TV when I felt like it, but I never paid for a sports channel to get games on TV. When the YES network had a contract dispute with my satellite company & I lost the channel entirely, I stopped watching. I have only been to four games in the last 30 years & three of them were free when I was given a ticket. The one I paid for was actually the last year that the old Yankee Stadium was still being used & the new one was being built next to it. I took my wife & son so they could at least see the place before it was gone.

When rules or ways the game is played change it's always hard to get used to it. I didn't think the DH was a good idea but got used to it. I used to like seeing pitchers get 20+ wins regularly but now it's rare that they get 20 starts. I'd get used to the new rules even if I don't like them. You can adapt, it's part of life. The things I can't adapt to are shelling out $250 a month for TV, $20 hot dogs, $30 beers, $12 candy bars, & all after paying the equivalent of the GDP of a small country for tickets to crappy seats with some drunken loudmouth standing in front of me ready to jump on to the field to have a fist fight with the umpire.

I still love baseball, always did. I even went & tired out for a minor league team in 1995 & met the manager who played for the the Detroit Tigers when I was a kid, Ron LeFlore. (I didn't make the team by the way...LOL)

Stopped watching about all, when new parks were built with shorter outfield distances.
All for the sake of giving the viewers more opportunities to witness more HOMERUNS !!!
Just compare many old-to-new stadiums.

Not on a winning streak now. None of the teams they beat this year have a record better than .500 so I am not too excited yet.


When I was a kid I used to ride my bicycle across lakeland to go to the games and even when I couldn't get in I would go just to try to get autos after the game and I got to meet Cecil Fielder my all time favorite, Sweet lou, Tramell parish, Morris, Tony, Gibson, Sparky and tons of others and still have all their autos, unfortunately my Cecil auto is so faded I almost can't see it at all. I even got to meet Al Kaline at a golf course my dad worked at and got his auto on a ball, sold it and have regretted it for approximately 30 years now.

Ron LeFlore! That's a great story from the past! I understand everything you wrote about! It was great when pitchers would pitch complete games and pitch well over 200 innings a season. Real workhorses and bulldogs. Now so many have a pre-planned bull pen schedule for the 7th, 8th and 9th. Remember Jack Morris? Quite the work horse. Although not in the same category, I actually liked Dan Petry better.

Greed has certainly effected the game negatively. Ads are everywhere during the game and it's annoying. They are even showing in-game commercials! I'm hanging on because the game I have loved all my life is the last professional sport I watch. I haven't gone to a Spring Training game in over a decade, and I'm in Florida and several train only an hour away. Joker Marchant stadium is only about two hours away.

P.S. As much as I hate to admit it, I believe Dave Windfield had the strongest arm in Right Field I ever saw. Geez, I remember someone on the Tigers hitting a ball to deep right and it hit the base of the wall and died there. Winfield picked it up and threw a cannon from the wall to Home on the fly and nailed the runner that had been on First. I still remember it all these years later and I was just a little kid. That's when both were in the AL East and rivals of course.

I also recall a pitcher getting 30 wins in a season. (Although I had to look it up, it was Denny McLain in 1968.) Seems like today winning 10 games is the milestone. I can accept that because of all the injuries & shortened careers some had.

Minor League games are fun, the atmosphere at the park is great & everything is still affordable.

Dave Winfield was fun to watch. I saw Paul O'Neill do something similar a few times, another great arm.

They still have all the injuries and shortened careers, they just train harder instead of playing harder. The lighter work load has done nothing for longevity.

I haven't seen any games except Tigers so haven't seen any interleague. I didn't mind the shift in years past, but it got to be to frequent for me. Anyway don't want to beat a dead horse. I'm just glad to see the games played quicker and not all the standing around while these premadonnas think everyone has to wait on them. Another bonus to games moving faster is some of these long winded broadcasters can't ramble on and on! Remember Hawk Harrelson of the White Sox? Omg that guy was so annoying with his boring stories and he'd always tell them when the opposition was hitting (Tigers).

Tigers are in trouble. Casey Mize out, now Manning out (hopefully not too long), and not scoring runs. While I'm not for always blaming managers, I think it might be time for A.J. Hinch to go. Where's Alan Trammell?

Looking like the tigers aren't gonna get crap for their two best pitchers on the trade market either, gonna have to hurry up and take a last minute deal, I was hoping Harris would be an improvement over Avila but seems to be more of the same, I hope I can eat my words in a couple hours...

I especially want Eduardo traded. He's no kid and should bring alot from a team in the race! I'm so happy with Torkelson! Really coming alive and being the cleanup guy needed to replace Cabrera.

Tork is hitting .232 with 3 homeruns in his last 15 games, I was hoping for more from a cleanup hitter who broke barry bonds homerun record in college. He will be serviceable but not a real star outside detroit.

Well they just gave away Michael Lorenzen for basically nothing, we can't have anything nice. The whitesox got far better from a worse pitcher.

I don't have an issue trading away Lorenzen, it's just that the return is really weak.


The deadline passed about 5 minutes ago and evidently the Tigers and codgers spent all their time negotiating a deal for Eduardo knowing he would reject the trade... that's a bolt strategy cotton!

I hate the way teams seem to wear ten different uniforms a season. What's that about? Keeping the ADD fans watching? I don't mind a vintage uniform day but this other flashy crap is annoying and wasteful.

Why does he reject? Not like he's leaving a winning team.