The extra-inning “ghost runner” on second base could indeed be returning in 2022.
According to MLB reporter Jayson Stark, the MLBPA and league have been negotiating the health and safety protocols and restoring the rule has been discussed by both sides.
There is no agreement, but players believe that the rule will be enacted when protocols are announced this week, per Stark.
The specifics of the rule still need to be hashed out.
Over the last two seasons, it was implemented starting in the 10th inning but it is possible it gets moved back into the 11th or 12th.
There’s also concern raised by players how the runs are charged. Currently, pitchers are charged an unearned run for allowing the ghost runner to score, but pitchers would prefer a runner they never allowed on base not count against them at all, earned or unearned.
The rule was put in place in 2020 as part of the effort to limit the length of extra-inning games due to the pandemic and remained in 2021 to cut down on the amount of time people could potentially spend at the ballpark.
Fans have despised the rule because it rewards a team for not actually earning its way on base.
But players have generally liked the rule, according to Stark, mostly because it has accomplished what it set out to do and has cut down on long, drawn out extra-inning games.
Only 16 games went beyond 11 innings in 2021, down from 60 in 2019 — the last year there was a full season without the “ghost runner.”
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