I was watching Daytona (on DVR of course because I hate commercial breaks and don’t have 4 hours to stare at a sporting event) and saw this…
So I tweeted that I hope The Commish has seen this amazing technology. My idea is that if baseball shortened each commercial break by :30 and did this coming back – that would save 16.5 minutes right there. Apply the same logic to a pitching change and we could save even more time (especially as Mickey sets out to bullpen the sport to its death).
Then @bizballmaury hit me with this article (good read) that suggests The Commish is ok with shortening commercial breaks, And Maury sent this one over from USA Today that asks if you’re willing to trade on-field ads (presumably virtual) for fewer commercials. Watch some Aussie Football for what that might look like.
To me, commercial breaks and the horrible awful pitching changes are the places to make the stand. My ideas include….
- no warm up pitches. You don’t get practice swings, You don’t get a few practice grounders. You don’t get to run some sprints. Come in ready.
- no trips to the mound. It’s 2018. Put some speakers in a cap. And make the pitching change from the dugout. I don’t need to watch Mickey strolling to the mound 5 times and having conversations and then some dude throwing 8 extra pitches.
These are not major rule changes. Having someone bat for the pitcher is a major rule change. We can live with no mound trips. Get this done now.
