I would like to see 2 changes to the game.

ABS is used on every pitch for balls and strikes.

The 26-man roster is expanded to 28 and the ghost runner is no longer used for extra innings.

I think most of us agree with this

43 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

I would like to see 2 changes to the game.

ABS is used on every pitch for balls and strikes.

The 26-man roster is expanded to 28 and the ghost runner is no longer used for extra innings.

I am fine with a ghost runner, but start the runner on first. Starting a RISP tilts the deck too far in favor of the offense. Having a runner on first can fulfill the MLBPA/MLBs wishes to shorten extra inning games and increase "excitement" while not fostering a situation that is unduly inequitable to the pitching/defense.

I like the limited number of challenges in principle.

That said, I hate that when an ump is really bad, it still has a significant impact on the game.

So my solution is that at the end of each inning, based on the ABS-based grading system for the previous inning, they announce whether each team gets an additional challenge. For example, if the ump blows 3 calls in a particular inning (that go unchallenged), each team gets an additional challenge that they can use starting in the next inning.

That way we can get more calls right, and we can publicly shame the shitty umps.

So far I have actually like the way ABS challenges have worked. They haven't materially slowed down the game, which was my primary worry.

I think it's perfect right now. I love love both.

I agree on all this, but strongly agree on full-time ABS for balls and strikes. There's nothing romantic or game-enhancing about an ump using his textured human judgment to say a ball was inside a box when it was really outside it. You could have 100% correct calls, and avoid the game slowdowns that come from the current challenges. It's clear there will still be games (like last night), and eventually very important games, decided by bad calls under the current system. Not sure why you wouldn't eliminate that when you so easily can.

Edited 49 minutes ago49 min by 35thstreetswarm

It sucks when your team blows their challenges and then the umps get really generous in the strike zone. It feels like there should be some sort of override if something is really egregious but I’m not sure how it would be implemented. I don’t think there would be a sky ump like in football who would auto change a call

21 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

I think it's perfect right now. I love love both.

I don't have a problem with either. Maybe reset challenges back to 2 each every 3 innings so they don't run out early?

1 hour ago, Falstaff said:

I would like to see 2 changes to the game.

ABS is used on every pitch for balls and strikes.

The 26-man roster is expanded to 28 and the ghost runner is no longer used for extra innings.

That's 3 changes

If you are going to keep the ghost runner they need to make loses in extra innings count less like hockey does with overtime losses. Bring back ties with an extra "point" going to the extra innings winner.

34 minutes ago, CityFan53 said:

I am fine with a ghost runner, but start the runner on first. Starting a RISP tilts the deck too far in favor of the offense. Having a runner on first can fulfill the MLBPA/MLBs wishes to shorten extra inning games and increase "excitement" while not fostering a situation that is unduly inequitable to the pitching/defense.

The following observations are probably "apropos of nothing," as Sheryl Crow might say, but I was just thinking how the ghost runner ultimately didn't factor into last night's game at all--- in the top of the 10th we couldn't manage to score even WITH a ghost runner, and in the bottom of the 10th Petey's homer would've won the game even WITHOUT a ghost runner. Also, is "ghost runner" really an accurate term? How about "automatic runner", or "free runner?" I remember as a kid, when I'd play a game of baseball with my big brother, and it was just the two of us trying to conjure up as "real" a game as we could, if one of us got, for instance, a double, and then went back to bat again, we'd always announce, "Ghost man on second," meaning it was an imaginary man, because we didn't have enough real guys. So, because any given "Manfred" man is a real guy, is "ghost runner" an accurate term? P.S. I realize that if this is the biggest complaint I have today, my life is pretty damn good.

I'm okay with ABS, but maybe increasing teams' challenges to three per game. Umpires are still missing enough pitches to warrant more.

As far as the ghost runner...first of all, it's not a ghost runner. Anyone who played backyard ball or wiffle ball knows a ghost runner means there's an imaginary runner on a base that runs the same speed as the actual runner behind them. Anyway, as far as that rule, I'm okay with the runner, but maybe not in the 10th. The 10th (and maybe 11th) inning is played normally, and the free runner is used once you get to the 11th or 12th.

3 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

I'm okay with ABS, but maybe increasing teams' challenges to three per game. Umpires are still missing enough pitches to warrant more.

As far as the ghost runner...first of all, it's not a ghost runner. Anyone who played backyard ball or wiffle ball knows a ghost runner means there's an imaginary runner on a base that runs the same speed as the actual runner behind them. Anyway, as far as that rule, I'm okay with the runner, but maybe not in the 10th. The 10th (and maybe 11th) inning is played normally, and the free runner is used once you get to the 11th or 12th.

Think I read where umpires missed nearly 1000 pitches last week