Do you think that the game has changed too much?

[Claude]

https://trib.al/vzG9cuC

[Angel Oracle]

I miss the SBs/daring baserunning, bunting in tight games, and hitting to all fields.

The past two seasons will have seen NO ONE exceed 45 SBs.   That hasn't happened in back-to-back seasons since 1957-1958.  

[floplag]

I agree completely. 
Ive jokingly called it live action strat-o-matic many times, and thats about how it feels.  There is no risk, no chance, a computer program could manage, and hitting has become secondary to walking. 
This is also why games have gotten longer, baseball created its own problem and now is trying to solve what cannot be solved without going back in time 20 years.

[John Taylor]

I have to agree. What's ironic is that I absolutely loved the stats aspect of Baseball growing up, and I always felt Baseball was more of a stat game than any other sport, and it made my slightly autistic mind happy, but then it hit a tiping point to where it became overly stat happy, I honestly still can't stand the idea of xWAR or bWAR or FuckWAR or WAR in general, or launch angle or spin rate, I just don't care as much, it kind of takes away the fun. I think that's why I enjoy someone like David Fletcher who is a throwback to an Eckstein type player, and Mike Trout who isn't a launch angle kind of guy he just hits the ball really really well.

Baseball is more boring than it used to be (On a large scale, Trout and Ohtani are still fun to watch), the "flow" of the game is different than even 10 years ago, I still love it because Baseball will always be my favorite sport, but some of the magic is gone.

[IIIII]

I do love the larger variety of stats that really help us determine who is good or not (Jeter was overrated). I miss the strategies that used to exist (SBs, bunting, etc.). I also do not like the length of SP outings as well as large amount of shifting even though I understand why it's happening. 

[Dtwncbad]

3 hour experience versus tons of 10 second clips:

As a three hour experience live, the game is way more boring now.

But I don’t think baseball cares when the home runs provide 10 second clips being devoured by people addicted to their mobile phones.

 

 

[eligrba4ever]

Remember the classic "Twilight Zone" about the perfect robot pitcher? Almost there.

[totdprods]

I don’t know what broadcast you guys watch, but all the ones I do still usually have BA, HR, RBI, and maybe OPS listed. Sure, they might supplement with an exit velocity or launch angle or spin rate here or there, but...I don’t see where this intrusion is overbearing or replacing traditional counting stats. It’s in addition to, and usually just peppered in to fill out broadcasts or the source of some seriously nerdy online articles. And while it has more importance than ever in roster-building, those decisions aren’t any more transparent than those of FO of old. 

I don’t think data suggesting defensive shifts or using an opener isn’t relying on anything that revolutionary either.

All of this is only happening because technology is allowing the capture of more data than ever and a better way to process it. Everyone’s just looking for competitive advantage via numbers right now because everyone’s working with roughly the same new areas of data. In time, this will streamline as data, math, formulas, and analytics will only take teams so far in a game still relying on skill and luck and this movement will recede.

[totdprods]

What’s boring is every team is trying to deploy roughly the same strategies based on similar data. 

[Dtwncbad]

Given the three output state of the game, where so much of the rest of the game is basically gone, I think it is much easier to be disengaged from the game when they are not wining. . . .at least for the older fan who remembers the past era.

Maybe baseball is cashing in on the modern ADD 10 second video clip fan for now, but I am not convinced in the long run that this works out for the game overall.

Baseball, to me anyway, is not a “highlights” sports the way football or basketball is.

But whatever.  I’m 52.  I don’t think baseball is all that concerned with what I think.

[m0nkey]

6 minutes ago, totdprods said:

What’s boring is every team is trying to deploy roughly the same strategies based on similar data. 

Yup. I get the reasoning behind it, but it’s like 3 pointers in basketball. 

[Justin]

I still love watching Angels games, but my enthusiasm to watch other games is mostly gone. 

I watched a significant portion of the Astros-A's game the other night where the teams combined for 10 home runs. 13 runs in total and every single one of them came as the result of a homer. I was thinking the same things Gossage said aloud: It's just homer run derby now. 

[jordan]

Between the many stat related changes and Angels poor play, the game is really not fun to watch.  Hopefully, as tots mentioned, the game will even out with the use of strategies based on all the new data.  But the shift, pitching changes, increase in HRs/launch angle, this game is missing the strategy of the last that the game was built on.  

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, SoPas Angel said:

I still love watching Angels games, but my enthusiasm to watch other games is mostly gone. 

I watched a significant portion of the Astros-A's game the other night where the teams combined for 10 home runs. 13 runs in total and every single one of them came as the result of a homer. I was thinking the same things Gossage said aloud: It's just homer run derby now. 

I agree with this. 

[Stradling]

Yes, the game isn’t as exciting as it once was.  The league doesn’t care about batting average, which I somewhat get.  If I was commissioner I would do some drastic things, including banning the shift, where you simply chalk a small line at the cut of the grass directly behind 2nd base.  You have to have two fielders on each side.  I also heard they were testing in the Atlantic league not striking out on a foul bunt with two strikes.  That would help get rid of the shift against lefties, because if they were shifting you could continue to bunt until you get one down the third base line.  

At some point a team is going to go back to hitting and running and stealing bases and they will have success.  It would be money -ballesque.  The Angels earlier in the year when they weren’t striking out absolutely should have been using the hit and run a lot more.  I can only remember one time where they actually did it this year.  

I don’t like the trend of starters only going 4-6 innings.  That being said there isn’t a simple fix because if starters don’t go balls out from the get go the hitters are sitting back ready to launch.  

I could easily turn this into a thread about what baseball should do, but we have had tons of those over the years.  

[Claude]

I grew up when a .300+ hitter was considered a good hitter and probably an All Star while everybody laughed at a .214 hitter. Today Upton is hitting .214 and everyone says he’s a terrific offensive player. Go figure. Hell yes the game has changed.

[stormngt]

Growing up most of my friends felt baseball was boring.  It was slow on action.  However those were people who really didnt follow the hame.  As I learned more about baseball I appreciated all the different strategies that could be put in 0lay.  Ate the going to steal?, hit n run, bunt or squeeze?

I would live pitching duels and the art of creating rins off outs.  

Those things rarely exist today.

[TroutAdell]

I am all for advanced analytics in preparing a game plan. Once the game starts I would much prefer the eyeballs over analytics. It is easy to tell a pitcher’s stuff by looking. The catcher should be able to communicate with the pitching coaches what is happening. It is even easier with hitters. Most slumping hitters don’t have control of the strike zone, chasing out of the zone will generally lead to weak outs. The human element is still a better judge than analytics.

[Claude]

Gone are the Ricky Henderson’s and the Lou Brock’s of baseball. The DH position is kinda cheesy when some slow fat toad fills it. 

[Angel Dog and Beer]

1 minute ago, Calzone 2 said:

Gone are the Ricky Henderson’s and the Lou Brock’s of baseball. The DH position is kinda cheesy when some slow fat toad fills it. 

You'd rather watch a weak, uncoordinated pitcher attempt to swing a bat?

[tdawg87]

23 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

I grew up when a .300+ hitter was considered a good hitter and probably an All Star while everybody laughed at a .214 hitter. Today Upton is hitting .214 and everyone says he’s a terrific offensive player. Go figure. Hell yes the game has changed.

 

12 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

Gone are the Ricky Henderson’s and the Lou Brock’s of baseball. The DH position is kinda cheesy when some slow fat toad fills it. 

Awww yeah boi get those shots in

[John Taylor]

28 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

I grew up when a .300+ hitter was considered a good hitter and probably an All Star while everybody laughed at a .214 hitter. Today Upton is hitting .214 and everyone says he’s a terrific offensive player. Go figure. Hell yes the game has changed.

I remember thinking that when Cabrera won the Triple Crown that it was odd that it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be.

[Stradling]

11 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

 

Awww yeah boi get those shots in

Yea, because we talk about how great Upton is this year.  What an idiot.  He is a very good offensive player, just hasn’t been great this year.  

[WeaverFever]

31 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

Gone are the Ricky Henderson’s and the Lou Brock’s of baseball. The DH position is kinda cheesy when some slow fat toad fills it. 

I wonder if the game would be better without the DH.... 

[Taylor]

Baseball is a living organism, which means it changes and evolves. In 10 years, those of us who grew up in the sabermetrics age will be complaining about whatever changes are happening in the sport.