MLB 2023 Regular Season Thread

[achilles]

Im glad you had fun. A lot of those college games are a great time.

Yep, and you get to look at some guys who might make it to the Show before anyone else. Plus, I got a preview of the new rules MLB will have this season. The pitch clock was unintrusive, just sort of there in the background. It didn't seem to speed up the game at all, but it didn't hurt it either. The pick-off attempt limits---not a fan. I don't know if colleges ban the shift or not, but I really didn't see any, so maybe. Though how they're going to apply that, I don't know. How offline do you have to be before it's a shift?

Very fun game though. You can hear everything on the field and in the stands; there were maybe 150 fans total, so the noise was far below a MLB stadium. And I was sitting maybe 25 feet from home. I've never managed that trick at either of my local MLB teams' stadiums.

[babyblob]

I am watching some college baseball today on MLB Network. Get my fix of baseball in.

[babyblob]

I am enjoying the 2023 Whats New Special on MLB Network as they explain all the new rules for 2023. I have no issue with any of the new rules and Am pretty happy for the ban the shift! That is long over due. The stat that got me is that teams in the MLB did the shift over 62,000 times in the 2022 season.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I am enjoying the 2023 Whats New Special on MLB Network as they explain all the new rules for 2023. I have no issue with any of the new rules and Am pretty happy for the ban the shift! That is long over due. The stat that got me is that teams in the MLB did the shift over 62,000 times in the 2022 season.

I’m also glad the shift is gone. I despised it.

[achilles]

I’m also glad the shift is gone. I despised it.

Why? I never understood that. If you have problems as a hitter, hit against it; plenty of major leaguers can and do, and IMO, anyone playing at that level should be able to do so. They shift against Freddy Freeman all the time for example, but it rarely works since he can hit to all fields.

[InfamousBG]

Go Padres!!!!!!

[cable guy]

Why? I never understood that. If you have problems as a hitter, hit against it; plenty of major leaguers can and do, and IMO, anyone playing at that level should be able to do so. They shift against Freddy Freeman all the time for example, but it rarely works since he can hit to all fields.

Yeah but that's so hard to do. Hit where the shift isn't. It's the hardest thing to do in sports, and that's hit a baseball. I know they are professional hitters, but they are going against elite pitching. They're only a handful of hitters that can do what Freeman can do. Anyway I'm so glad the shift is gone.

[Deathstroke]

Former Cleveland Indians All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis has announced his retirement.

[Hiromi]

The shift was fine when it was occasionally brought out for specific players and all you did was move an infielder over, it stopped being fine when it started being used for everyone and they moved one of the infielders into a 4th outfielder. The just hit it the other way argument is absurd, if it were that easy or even doable by the majority of the players they'd have done it by now and you'd know because the shift wouldn't be effective anymore and they'd have stopped doing it, Freeman is the example that's always brought out, the problem is he's one of the best contact hitters of his generation and it still took him years to get good at it. So the result is that most of the rest of the players just prioritized swinging for the fence instead because it was easier for them, which directly led to the current all or nothing home run or strike out bonanza we've had the last couple years. It also detracted from truly defensively gifted middle infielders. So you have less base traffic, less highlight defensive plays and an overall less interesting product.

[babyblob]

The shift has become very over used. And pretty much every inning has a shift or two. Like I said a couple posts up. In 2022 the shift was used by teams 62,000 times. That is excessive, and it is lazy baseball.

And like said if it were possible or easy to hit the other side then every player would have done it. Heck if it was easy to put the ball where ever a hitter wanted then they would get hits ever game and the fielders would be useless.

[achilles]

The shift has become very over used. And pretty much every inning has a shift or two. Like I said a couple posts up. In 2022 the shift was used by teams 62,000 times. That is excessive, and it is lazy baseball.

And like said if it were possible or easy to hit the other side then every player would have done it. Heck if it was easy to put the ball where ever a hitter wanted then they would get hits ever game and the fielders would be useless.

Well, to me, honestly if you know you're facing a hitter who always pulls the ball, why not play him to pull? What exactly is "lazy" about positioning your players where the ball it going to be hit? Is there any particular virtue in forcing your players to run a long way and maybe not make the catch even when they know better?

And so what if it's hard to hit to all fields; these guys are paid millions and have many, many years to learn. Yes, hitting major league pitching is incredibly hard...but it's possible, and a fair amount of players can do it, not just Freeman.

Now if you think that the rules need to be altered to increase scoring in the probably vain hopes of attracting bigger audiences, that's an argument I can accept even if I don't agree with it. But I do expect guys at the top getting paid like that to do things that are very hard and that no one else not playing in MLB can. Anyway, if more hitters learned to hit to all fields, then the shift would vanish on it's own as teams learn it no longer works----AND the game would be more exciting with more hitters able to go anywhere.

And I don't get how they intend to enforce this. How much does a fielder have to be offline before it's a shift? Is it only one fielder, or does both the infield and outfield have to offline? And what happens if a team IS found to be shifting? Is the batter awarded base? That would sound more than a bit cheap to me. Are they given warnings first? I don't know, this sounds to me like a simplistic solution to a complex maybe not problem.

And maybe, possibly, if a player can't manage to hit to all fields against standard MLB pitching, maybe he shouldn't be in MLB.

[babyblob]

And I don't get how they intend to enforce this. How much does a fielder have to be offline before it's a shift? Is it only one fielder, or does both the infield and outfield have to offline? And what happens if a team IS found to be shifting? Is the batter awarded base? That would sound more than a bit cheap to me. Are they given warnings first? I don't know, this sounds to me like a simplistic solution to a complex maybe not problem.

The rule will be two players on each side of the bag only. So no 3 players between first and second or between second and third. As for what happens if they break the rule I am not sure.

[achilles]

On to another topic, the Dodgers. Frankly, they might not even win the division this year; the Padres and Giants have made strides, while the Dodgers....haven't. In fact, you might even make the case they've gone backward. Okay, losing Bellinger probably didn't hurt, but a straight up comps trade like with JT...

They've basically stood still while their chief rivals have made moves forward. And that's not even figuring in that the Dodgers and everyone else will have to play

[Hiromi]

The rule will be two players on each side of the bag only. So no 3 players between first and second or between second and third. As for what happens if they break the rule I am not sure.

also you won't get infielders camped out ridiculously far back in the outfield


As for penalties for breaking it it works like the NFL offsides penalty, per espn
How it will be enforced: If the hitting team reaches base and runners advance on a ball hit under the violation, the game proceeds without penalties. If the play has any other consequence -- an out, a sacrifice, etc. -- the hitting team can decide either to accept the penalty -- which would add one ball to the hitter's count -- or decline it, and the play would stand.

[cable guy]

also you won't get infielders camped out ridiculously far back in the outfield


As for penalties for breaking it it works like the NFL offsides penalty, per espn
How it will be enforced: If the hitting team reaches base and runners advance on a ball hit under the violation, the game proceeds without penalties. If the play has any other consequence -- an out, a sacrifice, etc. -- the hitting team can decide either to accept the penalty -- which would add one ball to the hitter's count -- or decline it, and the play would stand.

Just looking at the shift makes me cringe. I will not miss it at all.