Baseball for the 21st Century: How to Relieve Baseball of Excessive Relief Pitching

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

Today I must ask for most of you to indulge me a bit: I realize that most people in this world are not so interested in Major League Baseball (MLB) as played in the United States. However, for those who do love MLB, quite a few of you are sick of all the analysis, all the newfangled statistics, all of the relief pitching, all of the home runs, and the almost complete absence of pitchers who pitch "complete games".

The solution is simple:

1. Instead of a batter striking out on three strikes, he strikes out on two strikes.

2. Instead of limitless foul balls, a batter (who already has one strike on him) who hits a foul ball for a second time, will automatically be called out on strikes. The term "two strike foul out" could be used for this.

3. Instead of a batter being awarded first base for a fourth "ball", he will be awarded a walk after a third "ball" call by the umpire.

Simple math shows that a pitcher's number of "pitches per inning" would drop from a "standard maximum" of 3~4 balls, 2~3 strikes, 1~3 foul balls per batter -- multiplied by "4" to allow for the fact that batters reach base one fourth of the time -- that is, of 36 pitches...

to

a "standard maximum" of 2~3 balls, 1~2 strikes, 1 foul ball per batter -- multiplied by "4" to allow for the fact that batters reach base one fourth of the time -- that is, of 20 pitches.

During the course of a true game, these "standard maximums" would very seldom be reached, however. The batters, knowing they would gain no benefits or other advantage by forcing pitchers to "waste their arms" with batters who have been schooled to learn how to foul off pitches that they don't like until they can "swing for the fences" on pitches that invariably begin appearing as a pitcher tires...

Instead, batters would have to learn how to work with the limited number of options available to them -- and would begin trying to get hits rather than just to hammer the ball 550 feet. Baseball would regain a great deal of finesse. And when long balls were produced, would elicit great excitement from the fans.

This brief outline is just a starting point. I suggest that baseball teams try it out. Even assuming a pitcher faces 5 batters per inning, each of those batters would probably work the pitcher for no more than 3 pitches each -- or 15 pitches total for a given inning. This means that after one inning 15 pitches would have been utilized, The "simple math" mentioned above can now be brought into play: 15 multiplied by 9 equals 135.

When a pitcher is having a "good day", he could even average 10 pitches per inning. In such a circumstance, a 9-inning game would require only 90 pitches.

Wow! The pitcher might even be able to venture into the "unknown territory" -- in recent MLB baseball -- of an extra-inning complete game!

Furthermore, he would do so without injuring his arm.

Something to think about in these times when all so many of us think about are the negative stuff we witness either directly or vicariously...

Steve Walker

Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.