California Rule

[Troll Daddy]

As most of you know that my son plays travel ball. Our last tournament ended as a tie after six innings of play for the Championship. 

The seventh inning was played under what they called the California Rule. The inning starts with a runner on second and one out for both teams. We scored one run and held them off in the bottom of the inning for the win. 

Apparently, this rule will be tested in the minors of some form to speed up a ending to the game. 

What do you think?

 

 

 

[Troll Daddy]

[Docwaukee]

I guess I'm not a fan.  

Either you enjoy baseball enough to watch a couple of extra innings or you don't.  

How many people turn off the game when it heads to extras after watching it up to that point?  

[ettin]

Yeah I absolutely despise this idea. Dumb all the way around for the Major Leagues.

[Tank]

it's the baseball equivalent of having penalty kicks to decide the world cup.

[arch stanton]

It would get me to turn off the tv as soon as it's in effect

[mauijim3]

What's next? To speed up the game the count starts at 1-1?

[Angel Oracle]

It's like college football OT putting the ball on the opponent's 25 yard line.

Lame

 

[totdprods]

I don't think it'll make it to the MLB level, but I could see this making a lot of sense at almost every level in the minors. 

How important is it for developing arms who make no money to play an 18-inning game in Corpus Christi the day before bussing to El Paso?

[gotbeer]

I believe in Japan, if a game ends in a tie (I think after the 12th inning or something like that, and might be an old rule, since I'm going back to the 90's on memory) it ends in a tie.  Of course in Japan, there was a reason for it.  99% of the fans went to see the game via train.  And the trains stopped running at midnight.  So the rule was made so you didn't strand everyone.

[Troll Daddy]

“Let’s see what it looks like,” Torre told Passan. “It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time. … What really initiated it is sitting in the dugout in the 15th inning and realizing everybody is going to the plate trying to hit a home run and everyone is trying to end the game themselves. I don’t know what inning is the right inning. Maybe the 11th or 12th inning. But there are a number of reasons.”

traderumors

[Junkballer]

I don't have a problem with this for the minor leagues as its a different environment and its good to try things out in the minors and see how things actually play out.  No way it works in the majors as stats are too hallowed, tradition etc, and besides, how many really long (>12 innings) games occur in mlb anyway?  It would be interesting though for them to introduce "hurry-up" rules in extra innings though; pitch clock, no mound visits unless to remove pitcher, etc.

 

 

 

[Glen]

This idea is so horrible it seems like Bud Selig thought of it.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Great for softball..!.... MLB/MILB Baseball and Travel Baseball not so much.... I've seen it more in showcases and college camps as they are trying to see what hitters do with a runner in scoring position and how pitchers do with the same....You will see these as your kid gets older Troll Daddy. Good Luck! Have fun! Let him decide how far he want's to go with it.... And let him know if after high school he decides either way if it means free or close to free college. Then he decides he's done afterwards.... A Degree, Priority registration and free stuff are cool and help the checking account immensely .

[fanfromday1]

18 inning games? I loved 18 inning games. Back in my day they were called doubleheaders.

[Adam]

I'd rather they have ties after 15 innings

[Stradling]

This will never happen in the major leagues so it isn't even worth thinking about.  It has some merit in the minor leagues for the reason some have mentioned on here.  It also has merit in youth baseball and softball.  I would be more in favor of a pitch clock or just about anything else as it relates to speeding up the game.  

[HaloNArizona]

This is like a slow pitch softball rule....

 

[AngelsFanSince86]

2 hours ago, Troll Daddy said:

“Let’s see what it looks like,” Torre told Passan. “It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time. … What really initiated it is sitting in the dugout in the 15th inning and realizing everybody is going to the plate trying to hit a home run and everyone is trying to end the game themselves. I don’t know what inning is the right inning. Maybe the 11th or 12th inning. But there are a number of reasons.”

traderumors

I don't know what he's talking about.  Watching non-pitchers go up there and pitch is one of the most fun things about an extra inning game to me.

[Second Base]

The only thing in sports that I love more than baseball is free baseball. Why limit that? 

[LooneyPlatoons]

I don't see why they need to even bother testing this in the minors.  If Manfred is that desperate to speed up games maybe he should cut commercial time down more and actually enforce the batters staying in the box between pitches.

[Troll Daddy]

The flip side to the conversation is that most games are played during the week at night. The average fan has work/school/kids to consider if you're paying $$$ to attend the game. The average paying fan would like to see a conclusion to the game rather than hear it on the radio going home or possibly the next day. Even if your watching it on TV or listening on the radio it's time consuming and takes away from your normal bedtime routine (girlfriend/wife time)

Since most fans here are die-hards so it doesn't really apply. The more innings the better! Starting a runner at second with one out (12th inning) makes it different/intriguing/interesting to watch.

btw I'm not advocating this rule.

[ScottT]

Hell no.

[VariousCrap]

Here is my thought on this:

[Docwaukee]

baseball is pretty boring.  it's generally slow.  Yes, there are some areas to speed up, but tackle the stuff that doesn't artificially change the game.  

If you want to get more of the general population out to games and viewing at home, give the masses more of what they like.  Offense.  

I'd rather see them wind a ball a bit tighter than introduce some 'event' that determines the winner.