If you ask anyone under the age of 30, the odds are that baseball is not atop of their list of favorite sports. The national pastime is losing its allure with the younger demographic, so they must cater more to their needs.
These rules could make baseball games better by speeding up the game and bringing the power back.
Robot Umpires
There’s enough wrong in today’s world that we don’t need Angel Hernandez’s home plate umpiring skills to drag us further into the abyss. Having an automated home plate umpire will dramatically improve the game.
The game’s strike zone is too inconsistent between umpires each night, especially the older umpires who have a propensity for calling strikes six inches off the outside corner.
With a robot behind the plate, all players know what to expect, giving hitters a better chance of not losing an at-bat because of one umpire’s strike zone.
There are enough silly rules in the rulebook, so let’s eliminate the ones that require guesswork.
Stay in the Batter’s Box
Several occurrences throughout a ballgame serve no purpose and slow the game down. One such occurrence is when a hitter steps out of the box to gather themselves before the next pitch.
Besides keeping the tradition of quirky batting routines alive, there’s no need to add time to a game like this. Allow the hitters to step out of the box once per at-bat, giving them a chance to collect their thoughts.
Institute a Pitch Clock
On the opposite side, pitchers should have a time limit to deliver the next pitch. Luckily, Pitchcom, the computer system that the catcher uses to signal a pitch to the pitcher, helped expedite the process of pitching, eliminating hand signals between catcher and pitcher.
Yet some pitchers still take their sweet time on the bump, prolonging the game. If we’re making hitters go faster at the dish, we can do the same with those toeing the rubber.
Salary Floor
With the in-game rules discussion settled, let’s shift the focus to ways the game can improve elsewhere.
One of the biggest problems facing Major League Baseball today is the number of teams actively trying to lose, netting a higher draft pick, and capitalizing on earning profit because of revenue sharing.
It’s time to end that nonsense and institute a salary floor all 30 teams must abide by. It’s laughable that the Oakland A’s payroll is less than what some people make in one season.
Stop letting teams bite the bullet to make a few bucks and make them a competitive team.
Bring Back the Longball
It’s more enjoyable watching home runs go 500 feet than seeing them die on the track. The game is almost unwatchable with the strikeouts and low batting averages.
So, let’s give MLB a boost and bring the league average OPS back up to where it was, around .800.
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Making these small changes to the rules could make baseball better and bring a jolt to the sport.
They made the designated hitter league-wide this past year, so don’t stop changing the game for the better, baseball!
