MLB announces 7 inning doubleheaders in 2020

[Chez]

Both games in doubleheaders will be 7 innings. I guess it had to be done. My wife, upon hearing the news, asked if MLB will also be implementing the slaughter/mercy rule..

[Dumpjerry]

Why not just have them play a Baseball video game? Nobody gets hurt or sick that way.

[A. Cavatica]

Risk of carpal tunnel.

[Kittle42]

How about 1-inning games? We could finish 162 of those!

[ChiTownTrojan]

The Marlins and Phillies are both missing a week of baseball. They're going to have to play a bunch of double-headers in order to make up the games. Combine that with all the pitcher injuries there have been in just the first week, and this was a necessary decision.

It's still baseball, both teams play by the same rules.

[HomeFish]

Why not just have them play a Baseball video game? Nobody gets hurt or sick that way.

They did this and Lucas Giolito lost in the finals.

[FourGoldGloves]

It's still baseball, both teams play by the same rules.

But some teams are more invested in the bullpen and they are being penalized after the fact. Based on what we've seen so far this is likely to hurt the Sox if, as is probably to be expected, there are a lot of doubleheaders.

[thomas35forever]

Doesn't bother me. The minor and independent leagues have done this for as long as I can remember, so why not?

[voodoochile]

Doesn't bother me. The minor and independent leagues have done this for as long as I can remember, so why not?

It's a temporary fix to deal with an extraordinary situation. We aren't going to have a pandemic every year (at least I HOPE we don't) so this is something that will go away and hopefully allow this season to be mostly normal.

[PaleHoseGeorge]

This is the perfect "season" for experimenting so I'm all for 7-inning doubleheaders. In fact when MLB (finally) figures out that what America really wants more of is do-or-die playoff games, they'll create a punch out tournament with lots and lots of 7-inning games to the keep the action moving and the fans glued to their seats.

It has to work better than wearing shorts and floppy-collared untucked shirts, right?

[TDog]

The Marlins and Phillies are both missing a week of baseball. They're going to have to play a bunch of double-headers in order to make up the games. Combine that with all the pitcher injuries there have been in just the first week, and this was a necessary decision.

It's still baseball, both teams play by the same rules.

It's not major league baseball. What it is is one more reason not to take the season seriously.

[voodoochile]

It's not major league baseball. What it is is one more reason not to take the season seriously.

It’s live sports. I’m going to enjoy the honest competition of professional athletes on a game by game basis for as long as it lasts. It’s not perfect, but compared to no sports at all it’s fan-****ing-tastic. I’ll leave the deeper analysis of whether it’s meaningful in the grander scheme of things to people who care to tackle such issues. Sports rarely are, they’re just entertainment and I’m enjoying the entertainment.

[TDog]

It’s live sports. I’m going to enjoy the honest competition of professional athletes on a game by game basis for as long as it lasts. It’s not perfect, but compared to no sports at all it’s fan-****ing-tasting. I’ll leave the deeper analysis of whether it’s meaningful in the grander scheme of things to people who care to tackle such issues. Sports rarely are, they’re just entertainment and I’m enjoying the entertainment.

With all due respect, I've actually found I don't have any problem with no sports at all. Baseball is the only sport I've watched on television for some years now (excluding bits of Indian and test cricket, never a full match, out of interest in figuring the game out). I discovered in the 1990s that the NBA was better on the radio with a really good announcer, and I watched a lot of college basketball in college and even covered games as a photographer for the Indiana Daily Student. I fenced in college, but the television opportunities for serious fencing are rare. Sports doesn't entertain me unless I have a rooting interest, an academic interest or a passion for the game. And baseball is being gutted. I enjoyed watching the 1970 White Sox despite the immense frustration. Baseball meant something that transcended the wins, the losses, the standings. It wasn't that Harvey Haddix lost when he couldn't pitch over a lead-off error in the 13th on a night in 1959 (a game that Bud Selig attended as a young Braves fan). Regardless of his not allowing a base runner until the 13th. baseball shouldn't have made him pitch over runners at second to begin the 10th, 11th and 12th innings to get the game over with. By all accounts, the game was epic. Baseball was better as an institution because Mark Buehrle didn't strike out Gabe Kapler to lead off the ninth on July 23, 2009. that there was an eighth inning, let alone a ninth. Joe Horlen had to pitch nine in the opener of a Sunday doubleheader to get his 1967 no-hitter, but even if there is nothing historic going on, a game shouldn't be diminished out of design for the sake of getting it in. And if you're passionate about the game, waiting 25 innings for Harold Baines to end a game doesn't waste your time. It lives large in the legend.

But, really, if you don't have fans at the games, does it matter if it's live? It's on a brief broadcasting delay anyway. What's the difference if the delay is hours instead of seconds? The game could even be edited for a faster pace.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Baseball Confederacy in 1908 had more integrity, higher standards than major league baseball in 2020. The former, of course, was fiction, available on audio if you don't like reading. But it's more entertaining as a read than live sports for the sake of live sports.

[ChiTownTrojan]

With all due respect, I've actually found I don't have any problem with no sports at all. Baseball is the only sport I've watched on television for some years now (excluding bits of Indian and test cricket, never a full match, out of interest in figuring the game out). I discovered in the 1990s that the NBA was better on the radio with a really good announcer, and I watched a lot of college basketball in college and even covered games as a photographer for the Indiana Daily Student. I fenced in college, but the television opportunities for serious fencing are rare. Sports doesn't entertain me unless I have a rooting interest, an academic interest or a passion for the game. And baseball is being gutted. I enjoyed watching the 1970 White Sox despite the immense frustration. Baseball meant something that transcended the wins, the losses, the standings. It wasn't that Harvey Haddix lost when he couldn't pitch over a lead-off error in the 13th on a night in 1959 (a game that Bud Selig attended as a young Braves fan). Regardless of his not allowing a base runner until the 13th. baseball shouldn't have made him pitch over runners at second to begin the 10th, 11th and 12th innings to get the game over with. By all accounts, the game was epic. Baseball was better as an institution because Mark Buehrle didn't strike out Gabe Kapler to lead off the ninth on July 23, 2009. that there was an eighth inning, let alone a ninth. Joe Horlen had to pitch nine in the opener of a Sunday doubleheader to get his 1967 no-hitter, but even if there is nothing historic going on, a game shouldn't be diminished out of design for the sake of getting it in. And if you're passionate about the game, waiting 25 innings for Harold Baines to end a game doesn't waste your time. It lives large in the legend.

But, really, if you don't have fans at the games, does it matter if it's live? It's on a brief broadcasting delay anyway. What's the difference if the delay is hours instead of seconds? The game could even be edited for a faster pace.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Baseball Confederacy in 1908 had more integrity, higher standards than major league baseball in 2020. The former, of course, was fiction, available on audio if you don't like reading. But it's more entertaining as a read than live sports for the sake of live sports.

I feel sorry for you. You're missing out on a pretty entertaining team that plays good baseball.

In case you haven't noticed there's a pandemic going on, and concessions need to be made in the interest of player safety. The two concessions that you seem worried about (7 inning double-headers and the extra inning rule) have affected exactly zero White Sox games this year.

[voodoochile]

I feel sorry for you. You're missing out on a pretty entertaining team that plays good baseball.

In case you haven't noticed there's a pandemic going on, and concessions need to be made in the interest of player safety. The two concessions that you seem worried about (7 inning double-headers and the extra inning rule) have affected exactly zero White Sox games this year.

And in the end when Giolito is facing Yelich no one is playing less hard because of any temporary rules. Lucas is trying damned hard to prevent Christian from reaching base and vice versa. Instant by instant and play by play the game, strategy and effort are the same as in any other season.

People don't want to watch, that's there business, but the competition is still real between the players and that's always what it's been about - at least for me.