If baseball purists thought the wild-card was a travesty, they ain’t seen nothing yet.
Major League Baseball is considering starting each extra inning of a game with a runner at second base, according to Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan.
Passan reports MLB will test the rule in the minor leagues this season, and also in next month’s World Baseball Classic and in spring training games.
“It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch,” Joe Torre told Yahoo. “As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time.”
A similar rule has been used in international baseball for the past decade, and Yahoo suggests having a runner on second allows for more offensive options in ending a game.
“What really initiated it is sitting in the dugout in the 15th inning and realizing everybody is going to the plate trying to hit a home run and everyone is trying to end the game themselves,” Torre said.
While MLB can make rule changes in the minor leagues without players’ approval, support is required from players for changes at the major-league level unless one year prior notice is provided
