Major League Baseball’s most historic rivals met at Fenway Park on Friday night. The Boston Red Sox led the New York Yankees 4–3 before Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez tied the game with a solo homer in the top of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Yankees reliever Chad Greene faced JD Martinez. Greene struck Martinez out looking, sending the game to extras. So why in the world was Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier putting on a helmet between innings and jogging out to second base? Anyone who hasn’t tuned into MLB this season may be unaware of the atrocious new extra inning rule in which each team starts off every extra inning with a runner on second base. The rule was established as part of MLB’s effort to cut down on innings played during their full sprint 60 games in 67 days season. Putting a runner on second before an inning has even begun is wildly unfair to pitchers who find themselves in a jam before they even toe the rubber. I imagine the frustration I would have felt in little league watching the kid on the other team who hadn’t made contact with a ball all year trot out to second base with a big grin on his face, after doing absolutely nothing but chew his double bubble-sunflower seed concoction for three hours. If it would be an injustice in little league, it’s an injustice in MLB. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is one of many players to voice their displeasure with the rule, telling reporters “It’s not real baseball. But it’s fine for this year, and I hope we never do it again.”
MLB’s extra inning rule got me thinking about rules that could use changing in some of the other major American sports. Younghoe Koo is a solid field goal kicker for the Atlanta Falcons but he has made a name for himself as the NFL’s best onside kicker. In a game last year against the Saints, Koo delivered three consecutive successful onside kicks,although one was negated by penalty. In his first game this year, Koo converted another onside kick against the Seahawks. In the NFL, Koo is the exception rather than the rule. In 2018 the NFL made a rule that the players on the team kicking off cannot get a running head start. As a result the percentage of successful onside kicks fell below 10%. The rule was made in an attempt to improve player safety, but it has made it nearly impossible to retain possession after scoring.To keep the conclusions of good football games exciting, the NFL should adopt some form of the fourth-and-15 rule proposal that would allow a team to retain possession if they convert a fourth-and-15 from their own 25-yard line.
The NBA recently joined MLB and the NFL in allowing coaches to challenge calls that they disagree with. The only problem is that each coach is limited to only one challenge, whether or not their challenge is successful. In MLB a manager only loses their challenge if they are incorrect, while in the NFL coaches get two challenges and are rewarded a third if their first two are correct. The NBA rule means that a coach could challenge a blatantly incorrect call in the first quarter, be correct, and still no longer have any ability to challenge a blatantly incorrect more consequential call that occurs in the fourth quarter. That makes no sense. Rules, man.
