I went to a AAA game last night with a good friend (happened he was a former Div 1 baseball head coach who was invited by a former player of his who was on the visiting club), and the game went into extra innings.

Apparently now the extra innings now start with the last batter from the last inning on second base.

Was really funky to see, but I came away with the feeling that that new format was kind of stupid. Fairly easy to get the runner on 2nd in, but relatively hard to score more than that.

So the only way to win now in MILB is to do the 'traditional score' to add to the near freebie (scoring the 2nd run is much in the traditional means), or hope that the other team is bad enough not to be able to do a 'sac bunt -- get one ball in play combo' to get *their* 'ghost runner' across in their part of the inning.

The game lasted to the 13th with each team dribbling in a single run per extra inning. It finally ended when one team finally exhausted their 9th inning closer in the 12th, and had to trot out a position player who barely threw strikes and only in the low '70s. In return, the visiting team still had a pretty good closer fresh (14 innings / 15 punches) who threw consistently in the 94 range.

All in all I say the new rule is kind of useless.

Anyone else had the opportunity to experience this new wrinkle?

Edited to add: had the fortune to sit to probably one of the *best* hecklers I have experienced in the last 20 years. One of those voices that literally punched through everything else. To add to the fun, when he was flagging, I bought him another beer. It revived his spirits and his efforts from the 7th to the 11th when his party left. I felt that my good deed goal was met for the day with that.

I was at the same game last night. I don't like the rule and it doesn't seem to do anything to shorten the game (is that why they do it in the first place?) since both teams have this "advantage."

(05-21-2019 03:12 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  Edited to add: had the fortune to sit to probably one of the *best* hecklers I have experienced in the last 20 years. One of those voices that literally punched through everything else. ...

Orange County Owl ... time to come out of retirement? :-)

It's essentially, get one hit and give up none and you win.

(05-21-2019 05:54 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  It's essentially, get one hit and give up none and you win.

It really doesnt work that wy.

Runner on second ---

sacrifice bunt to third. Zero hits.
Long ball to center. Score. Zero hits.

It is more 'get one hit, and give up none, probably still get you a tie.'

That was lesson I took home after an extra half game.

The goal should be to get to the kind of high variance outcomes that the NCAA 3+ OT two-point conversion requirement creates where the odds that both teams achieve the same result declines. Maybe they would get better results starting the runner on first? You have a better chance to score than starting with no runners on, but you still need at least one batter to get on base safely or a good stolen base. The rules committee answered "How can we ensure more runs score in extras" instead of "How can we help make sure fewer extras finish with a tie score?"

I’d rather just haves ties lol

(05-21-2019 08:27 PM)BSWBRice Wrote:  I’d rather just haves ties lol

The terrible injustice is that if it is a night game, beer sales stop at the end of the 8th inning. We are talking about *5* dry innings. *And* that blechhhh feeling of coming down off a decent 'fuzz buzz'.

(05-21-2019 08:27 PM)BSWBRice Wrote:  I’d rather just haves ties lol

I wouldn't mind doing like Japan. If it's still tied after 12, it's a tie.

Soccer and baseball OT should work the same way (this borrows a little from an NHL rule). Remove one player each go round (inning or five-minute OT). In baseball this would be perfect... more places to hit as you lose one defensive player each inning. Although it could get ugly if you’re down to four players and the visiting batting team just keeps on getting hits and not out in the T-14.

(05-21-2019 11:03 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  ... it could get ugly if you’re down to four players ...

Not if you play like "The King and his Court"!!

:-)