What if in 2023, the NBA, NFL and NHL existed but there was no baseball? If you were starting MLB from scratch today, how different would it be from what we watch currently? Everything is on the table, so we can remove things or add things however you see fit. Here are things divided into three sections: Things to keep, things to change and things to be debated. These are my thoughts and it should be expected for you to disagree with at least a few of them
Things to keep
Infield dimensions, including distance from the mound to home plate.
Nine fielders.
Nine innings.
Pitch clock.
Four balls for a walk and three strikes for an out.
Three outs per half inning.
Manager can go on field to check status of injured player.
If player moves into pitch and gets hit, it’s home plate umpire’s discretion whether it’s a strike or ball. Runner does not get first base.
Six playoff teams per league, with top two teams getting a bye.
Unless otherwise stated below, keep all parts of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Things to change
Automated strike zone based on rule book definition of what a strike is and not in any way tinkered to try to replicate how umps call games currently.
Symmetrical outfield layout with fence height the same throughout the park. Different altitudes require different dimensions. Coors Field needs to have a deeper OF than any other park. But if it’s 340 feet to LF with an 8-foot fence, it needs to be 340 feet to RF with an 8-foot fence, too.
No limits on shifting or number of batters a pitcher has to face.
Raise the height of the mound to 15 inches.
Revert to 25-man roster with a maximum of 10 pitchers.
Fielders can make one mound visit per inning. If a coach/manager comes on the field, the pitcher needs to be removed.
Eliminate designated hitter.
If pitch com device malfunctions, team can no longer use it that inning. Fix it between innings.
Require balls to be assembled in U.S. with no variance allowed in weight or shape.
Every non-ball-strike call can be reviewed. Teams get one failed challenge and then they’re done. But if they challenge 10 calls and all 10 are overturned, they get another one. Manager can ask for any scoring play to be automatically reviewed without it being a challenge. All challenges must be complete within 60 seconds.
If a player is hit by a pitch in an area protected by body armor, it’s a ball and not a HBP.
If a starting pitcher hits three batters or a reliever hits two, they’re immediately removed from the game and suspended for 10 games. If a pitcher hits a batter in the helmet, he’s immediately ejected and suspended.
Eliminate pitcher balk rules. If a pitcher starts and stops his windup, he’s still subject to pitch clock rules.
Allow highest-seeded playoff teams to pick their opponent among all playoff teams.
Things to debate
Expansion to 32 teams.
Schedule where each team plays every other team the same number of times, either with or without interleague play.
A check swing rule tied to the automated strike zone, where if a bat breaks a certain angle, regardless of where the hitter resides in the box, it’s a strike.
Creation of a taxi squad, where each team has a certain number of players they can move back-and-forth to the 25-man roster. Players on taxi squad to get MLB service time, regardless if they get promoted to the 25-man. Can make changes to taxi squad every Monday.
Teams allowed to poach players from other organizations at any time once the minor league season starts if they’re eligible but not on 40-man roster. Must be promoted to higher level. If Mets have Joander Suarez at Double-A, a team can grab him with the caveat that he either needs to be assigned to Triple-A or the majors and remain at a higher level the rest of the year or be offered back to original team.
Restricted free agency to replace arbitration. A player eligible for arbitration can instead negotiate with any team. However, once player agrees to contract with new club, his previous team can match the contract and retain the player. If team loses a player this way, they would receive compensation.
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Undoubtedly many of you will advocate for Salary Cap/Salary Floor or changes to Revenue Sharing or Luxury Tax numbers. These are worthwhile things to discuss but this was getting unwieldy without even addressing those issues. Thus the keeping of the majority of the current CBA.
I could go on for a while about having a payroll floor and cap, with a pretty tight range, which would be one of my top priorities, but I’ll stay more within the rule issues. I agree with most of your things to keep and change. The couple of things I would disagree are:
Mound distance – I would consider extending the distance between the mound and the plate. I don’t have a distance in mind but with the velo today and the huge number of strikeouts, I think that would be interesting to look at.
Eliminating balks – I wouldn’t eliminate balks but would push for consistency in enforcing the rules.
Hit by pitch resulting in ejection/suspension – it’s part of the game and there would be hitters leaving into pitches to get pitchers tossed. Just don’t like that one.
– The ability to poach players is interesting. My initial reaction was no, but as I thought about it, I see where you are going. This helps minor leaguers get a chance to move up quicker, especially if they have a team that tends to be conservative with promotions. I think there would be a lot to debate about that one (maybe caps on the number of players a team could poach and that a team could lose).
Great conversation material.
Brian, what a great question.
International player draft. )not sure, maybe that is already happening.
Affiliated minor leagues in Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico made up with players from those countries.
One player in lineup gets to use an aluminum or corked bat.
Ties rather than extra innings.
MLB clubs play 1 series in minor league AAA home park.
Mercy rule if team goes up by 10 runs.
Add more day games.
Make a MLB holiday with all day games so everyone can go.
Ditch the 40 man roster.
Institute some non guaranteed contracts like football.
Have a fan contest (qualified) fan wins a car if he can strike out a player.
HBP goes to second base.
Get rid of the body armor.
Expand the strike zone up.
Foul bunt on 2 strikes is not an out.
A walk is 5 balls.
Shorten the season by 20 games.
My God, go back to have starters go more than 6 innings.
Expand the roster size to 28.
Increase offense and action while shortening game times:
Only 2 outfielders to increase doubles, triples, and inside-the-park HRs.
A foul ball with 2 strikes is an out.
Keep the ban on infield shifts.
Remove the pitcher’s mound; pitch from flat ground to reduce the pitcher’s advantage.
Keep the DH. Few want to see pitchers “hit.”
No bunting.
7-innings to keep games under 2.5 hours, preferably 2 hours.
Only 4 games a week to allow rest, reduce injuries, and permit a 4-man rotation of only the most talented pitchers.
No walks. If a pitcher throws ball four, it becomes a sprint to first base. The hitter runs on ball four while every infielder must touch the ball before it becomes live.
Batters can steal first base. On any pitch of an at-bat, the batter can try to steal first base whether on a passed ball, wild pitch, or any time the batter chooses.
Golden batter rule. One time a game, a team may send any hitter in the lineup to bat in any spot. Use your best hitter can hit when the game is on the line.
I lifted the last 3 rules from Banana Ball: https://bananaball.com/rules/
Fun exercise! Good idea, Brian.
What a great premise Brian. I’d like to see a salary cap to promote better competition. Otherwise the big market teams will always have an advantage over the small market teams because they can afford to pay the luxury tax. Heard a stat that less than 2% of balls and strikes were called incorrectly in 2023 but can’t believe that is true. Would there not have to be some independent input of each of the players height so that an automated system could determine the height of a ball that is thrown over the plate? How else would you be able to gauge a strike for a 6’5” player versus little Altuve?
The pitchcom should be supplied by MLB and if they malfunction there should be no penalty for getting a replacement. Better yet, toss the pitchcom and let the catcher throw down some fingers. It worked for more than a century at all levels right down to little league. Teams have been stealing signs since the beginning of time. Eliminate this stupid must pitch to three batters rule. The more pitchers a team uses the more it leaves them shorthanded if a game goes to extra innings. I no longer have an issue with the pitch clock but limiting mound visits has to go. Just limited the visit to a minute and then break it up. Longer than a minute and a ball is called on the batter. Would you not consider a helmet akin to body armor? Hard to think of getting hit in the head and when they get you off the ground the pitch is simply called a ball. Keep the 25 man MLB roster but eliminate the 40 man roster and let a team bring up anyone at anytime from anywhere in their system. Got a batter hitting .325 at Binghamton, bring him up and see what he can do. Keep the DH and just get a good player to fill that role for the Mets. The DH of old was an aging player who could still swing a bat but was not so sharp in the field. That’s just not applicable anymore and paying several million would be worth it to place a .300 hitter with power smack dab in the middle of your order or a .275 hitter who is a huge base stealing threat playing lead off.
This game could go on for ever. It was fun. Thanks.
Raise mound height to 15”
Foul ball #2 is an automatic out
Retain the shift prevention fir infield
Field dimensions must meet a minimum requirement off 325, 375, 405 with an 8’ fence or equivalent wall height adjustments in order to achieve based on an average arc for a home run that clears those dimensions. This would be similar in approach to the Green monster at Fenway.
Im against player salary limits, but the exchange for this is that regardless of the deferment structure of salary, the entirety of the contract counts against CBT rules. CBT overages go to less wealthy teams. The counter to intentional low payrolls, similar to the annual QO, a base player payroll must be determined annually with any ownership group who fails to meet the payroll standard forced to restructure in some different way from selling to whatever within a certain time frame.
MLB baseballs should go to the NBL standard, with raised seams and equally pre tacked balls. Balls shall be machine made.
Balls and strikes shall be called by the robot ump and not challenged by anyone. Umpires shall call the remaining plays on the field with replay challenges allowed at a certain quantity. There shall be a fixed replay umpire for every game whose only responsibility is the assigned game and nothing else. Replay Umpires will have no more than 1 minute to make a decision, after which the call on the field stands.
Aggressive slides into stationary defenders will be suspended without pay for no fewer than 5 games.
Any HBP above shoulders is an immediate ejection and suspension.
All stadiums shall have a minimum of cameras for replay all placed in the same position so that every park sees the same thing. Camera requirements include straight on from CF to catcher, down each base parallel to the base line.
Arbitration for a player should occur after 162 GP, and be linked to WAR or some other agreed to measure of production. This means players will be earning deserved salaries at the time they generate most WAR. This protects players and owners who become forced to huge contracts for players as FA in the diminishing parts of their careers.