Baseball’s New Look – Better or Worse?

The game is played differently today, and it’s entertainment value has changed with it.

Today’s statistics and analytics not only appear to shape the way the game is managed, but how players play. Defensive shifts to combat batter tendencies, the emphasis on home runs or nothing, power pitching, the near absence of the stolen base and the sacrifice bunt has radically changed the character of baseball, and I don’t think I like it.

At bats now look like an all or nothing affair for many hitters – swing for the fence or take a seat. If you happen to get a hit while swinging for the deep seats, well okay. We’ve watched batting averages plummet and strikeouts rise while other stats are deemed more valuable. Players now have to deal with defenses that shift to take away spots where hitters most often put the ball. My question to hitters – if the defense is going to give you an open half of the field, why don’t you take it? If someone is willing to give me half the field, I’m going to practice hitting the ball over there until I get it right. Remember Tony Gwynn and Ichiro? Spray it around, hit it where they ain’t, get on base a bunch and guess what – you score a lot of runs! Isn’t that the object, get guys on base so you can score more runs?

When I played it was a no-brainer – the guy who gets on base and harasses a pitcher with the threat of stealing is just as valuable as those guys in the RBI part of the order. Whatever happened to the classic leadoff hitter? Ever heard of Ricky Henderson? Nobody ever wanted that guy to reach base. You knew he was going to ruin your setup for a double play by stealing at least second and maybe third. He was going to distract your pitcher to the point he might make a mistake to the next hitter. In other words, Ricky was going to make you pay. He made every pitch stressful for the guy on the mound, and that shortens a pitcher’s stamina. He was a nightmare; he could hit with power and for average; he didn’t care how he got on base and he knew the art of basestealing and base running better than anyone who ever played.

Back to today’s game – with only a few exceptions they’re usually boring. There’s less action and suspense than ever before. Fewer baserunners, fewer still stolen bases, almost no effort to move runners over into scoring position with a bunt (bunt? what’s a bunt?). Half the guys I see trying to bunt don’t even know how to handle the bat to execute one.

And then there’s the shift – WTF? I know it behooves any team to try and keep the opposition off the bases. But this deal of allowing teams to position players anywhere they want on the field is helping to kill the game. They should at least require two infielders on each side of second base. It seems to me allowing them to put three infielders on one side of the field or have four outfielders only exacerbates the compulsion to go for the long ball. After all, where else are you going to hit it? Then again, as a hitter, learn to hit it the other way. They know how; every little leaguer gets taught how to do that. Is the simple single just not good enough anymore? Too humble?

It also doesn’t help Baseball’s credibility when they own the company (Rawlings) who makes the baseballs. They manipulate the ball, either making the stitching higher or lower, the finish slicker, the core more or less lively. Stop F’ing with the ball and then trying to blame pitchers for ‘illegal’ substances – as if that hasn’t been going on since the dawn of time!

Ultimately, I don’t suppose any of these manipulations are really new; computerized analytics just seem to have accelerated the changes we see each year. Still, you wonder why some things are allowed and why teams and players don’t do a better job of taking advantage of the obvious openings left to them. And the whole ability to manipulate the baseball goes too far – how do records mean anything if the ball changes every year?

Will I still watch? Yes, I’m a diehard baseball fan. But would I love it a whole lot better if there was more variety, more athleticism, more skilled base running and maybe less emphasis on power in today’s game? Absolutely. It’s more entertaining. I don’t go to basketball games to watch only dunks or a 3-pt shots either. Now don’t get me started…