If you love baseball, you know there’s always a chance you get an extra innings ballgame. And when that happens, you know you can be in for a game that goes 16 innings and lasts about five hours.
It turns out Major League Baseball has noticed that too, and is starting on a path that may lead to big changes.
Major League Baseball will test a new rule in the lower levels of the minor leagues this coming season. Once a game reaches extra innings, the team at bat will start with a runner in scoring position, at second base.
The rule has the backing of one of its biggest managerial names in history. The legendary Joe Torre is behind this. Steve Sparks, the radio broadcaster for the Houston Astros, told KTRH that if this ever reaches the big league level, it could be a win-win for everyone.
“I think it would be exciting. I don’t know that anyone likes to sit there for five hours anyway,” Sparks said.
As for the traditionalists that will resist this, Sparks says there might not be many of those.
“When you talk about a guy like Joe Torre, you’re talking about a guy that has lived every part of it,” Sparks stated.
And the former knuckleballer thinks managers will warm up to this idea, too.
“To cut down on those 18-inning games would be a big relief for a lot of those guys, and it would help the health of a lot of those relievers,” Sparks explained.
The idea is one that has been used in international play for about a decade.