Mathematics never came easily to me during my formative schooling years but I’m pretty sure I got my number sequencing correct; i.e. the number five is greater than the number four (5 > 4).
Yet while the stubborn and seemingly immovable object known as Major League Baseball’s owners, crawl to the negotiating table at the speed of continental drift, one issue of the many scrolls of issues remains unaddressed and dare I say unsurfaced. The issue is this; that the indisputable mathematical fact listed above, that the number five is in fact greater than the number four (5 > 4) doesn’t seem to jive in the majors.
It’s a mathematical anomaly and it’s a major league problem.
It’s well noted that MLB has many issues to address, including coming to a quick and long-term resolution to its current and prolonged work stoppage. A labor dispute happening in real time at the worst possible time, right on the public’s center stage is not a positive turn of events. However, the fact that the final four innings of its games (innings 6-9) are, wait for it…frequently twice as long as the game’s first five innings, is the game’s biggest problem.
This is a problem that can be drawn back literally to one man over three decades ago, Tony La Russa. As a manager he was and is an absolute innovator that changed the game of baseball forever. He is a three time World Series Champion and deserves his due as one of the greatest managers in the game’s rich history. No doubt there. The problem is however that his success and impact on the game has come at a very steep price. The game over the last 30 years for many, make that too many… has just become too long. His famous late inning tinkering and overuse of multiple relievers changed the game at the highest level forever and because of it, even a well-pitched game by an effective starter can be slowed to a near stop once the late innings come.
In last 10-20 years managers like Joe Maddon and Kevin Cash in Tampa Bay put the multiple reliever strategy on steroids employing “the opener” strategy. One that can literally see upwards of nine or more pitchers in one game! Worse, each enters the game with a significant stoppage in play.
Tick tick tick…
As people’s attention spans shorten and entertainment options only get better, Major League Baseball and the sport itself are truly at a desperately critical crossroads. I love the game of baseball, am professionally, personally and emotionally invested in the game and have been my entire life. I am critically concerned for its future and frankly, its present.
Baseball’s much ballyhooed and supposed “pace of play” issues date directly back to when La Russa stared the trend of over-managing late inning relief. You can draw a straight line from his first years as the manager of the Oakland A’s in the 80’s as the dividing line between how long it takes to play games now and how the game was once played. This is a documented fact and I will document it again here below.
It’s not the pace of the game that needs to change folks, it’s the game’s increasing length. To improve that and return it to a more reasonable level, something needs to change in the late innings of ballgames. That’s the problem.
As is typical when trying to address a real problem, people in baseball are picking at the edges of the plate, quibbling over the peas and beans instead of focusing on the big glop of potatoes, drenched in butter and drowning in gravy right in the middle of the dish. So while they won’t deal with it, I will.
Before I do, let me get this off my chest please; where I think the innovation of a pitch clock can help, I have no issue with baseball’s pace of play. My issue is game length.
Growing up I used to love to mimic hitters’ unique stances and lengthy rituals at the plate. Same with the pitchers and the runners on base. I loved trying to impersonate Fred Lynn, Dewey, Yaz and Mike Easler, then later Phil Plantier. On the mound, impersonating Louis Tiant, Eck or Fernando Valenzuela was part of the fun. Watching Dewey effortlessly firing a throw across the outfield to Rice in between innings mesmerized me. Throwing the ball around the infield before the first batter enters the box, or absorbing the feeling of a batter stepping out of the box in a key at-bat to reset is part of what I love about the game.
So forget the peas on the plate. Make real change. Focus on the mashed potatoes clogging your arteries. Speed up the last four innings of the game and your problem can be solved. Below are some short-term ideas and a long-term solution to consider but before that, back to La Russa.
La Russa took over as manager of the Oakland A’s in 1986 and stayed with them through 1995. He then managed in St. Louis from 1996 – 2011. He was the first to really force the righty/lefty strategy in late innings and changed the way managers have used their bullpens ever since. Below is a look at the average time of major league baseball games in 10-year increments since 1954.
1954 – 2 hours 31 minutes
1964 – 2 hours 35 minutes
1974 – 2 hours 29 minutes
1984 – 2 hours 40 minutes (biggest 10-year jump to date – 11 minutes).
1994 – 2 hours 58 minutes (bested the previous 10-year period with an 18 minute increase).
By 2014, game length was at 3 hours 9 minutes and we’ve been over 3 hours on average ever since. Last year in 2021 a new low was achieved with games timing out at 3 hours 10 minutes.
Time for solutions.
Short-term ideas – On the field:
I’m not a fan of over-governing but this issue needs oversight to force necessary and immediate improvement right now.
1. Once entering the sixth inning, a manager can only use a reliever to get one batter out, once. So he must choose wisely and use his bullpen more judiciously.
2. Once entering the sixth inning, any reliever that comes in must have a two-batter minimum. This idea was tossed into the MLB suggestion box heading the 2020 Covid season and I support it.
Either of these ideas will decrease the number of late-inning pitching changes and play stoppages. Again, I don’t want to over-govern and interject into managerial strategy here but until the long-term solution (below) can be realized, something needs to be done. Lastly, let’s get rid of the idea of “the opener” please. If a starter stinks you yank him. Get a long reliever to mop up. Where have all the Dennis Lamp’s and Hector Valezquez’s of the world gone? There’s no need to have nine pitchers in one game. Govern that garbage please.
Short-term ideas – Off the field & tweaks:
1. Television and Radio rights holders need to limit the amount of commercials and advertisers during the late innings; rather focusing on gaining one late inning sponsor that owns the final four frames of the game. The sponsor gains exclusive rights, name mentions and all of the attention for the most critical innings of the game. It’s a premium placement that costs premium dollars with limited breaks.
2. Managers – get your relievers warmed up earlier and decrease the downtime when making changes.
3. Relievers – adjust your off-day/on-day routines to get warmer and ready faster to decrease downtime when called upon.
The real solution – Long-term:
A premium must be placed on starting pitching once again. The game needs more horses. Scratch that, more Clydesdales. At the highest level, starting pitchers that can log seven innings or more need to get paid the highest and this needs to be publicly stated. Make a thing of it. Think of it this way, is there a tenured specialist in the NFL that makes anywhere near what a tenured starting quarterback makes? Of course not. Put a premium on starting pitchers and pay bullpen specialists less. That can begin to turn the tide.
At the lower levels like Little League, Babe Ruth, middle school, high school, legion ball, college and in the minors everyone needs to get on board. Make starting pitching a priority. Make it sexy again. Work on it. Get kids throwing more and throwing longer into games. Over time if this is done well, then the paradigm can shift. The overused relief pitching era can actually be a genie that gets stuffed back in the bottle. MLB has to lead that effort with a robust PR campaign that showcases its starting pitchers as the stars they always used to be.
If not, games will not get shorter, no matter how many peas you move off the plate. Late inning relief has to change to speed the game up. Put the highest value on the great starting pitchers. You’ll have shorter games, better games, more visible stars and a better product.
This is the way.
