That is the most logical explanation for a reported plan to see what happens if some minor league teams start every inning after the ninth with a runner on second base.
Former Cardinals and Yankees manager Joe Torre, who up to now has generally been considered smart, inexplicably thinks this is worth trying.
"Let's see what it looks like," Torre, the Chief Baseball Officer for MLB, told Yahoo! Sports. "It's not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch."
This would be a good point if not for the fact this virtually never happens in extra innings, and the other (very rare) times a position player takes the mound in blowouts to save the bullpen are one of the few things that a noticeable faction of Sports Twitter actually seems to like.
(That’s got to count for something, right?)
Moreover, extra-inning games are not really a significant part of the, “Are baseball games too long?” issue.
While pace of play is a larger issue than actual length of games, there are numerous things that happen in every game that lead to them stretching closer to three hours than two.
Batters who are allowed to step out of the box too often and for no reason. Pitchers who are too slow to the plate. Commercial breaks. Excessive pitching changes. Inefficient replay reviews. Etc.
Let’s tweak some of those daily deals before worrying about extra innings.
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