Article: A Vision for Doubleheaders

[alexlegge]

As a diehard Twins fan lucky enough to work from home on Wednesday, I followed both games of their doubleheader against the Red Sox. It was a full day of baseball, a treat that I had been looking forward to since the scheduling change. Coincidentally, it came less than week after an elegant article about doubleheaders written by former Pioneer Press columnist Jim Caple, now a senior writer at ESPN. Caple essentially argues that despite many issues, doubleheaders invoke a nod toward the traditional, true spirit of baseball. After enjoying the Twins-Sox doubleheader, I decided to created the following list to complement/expand Caple’s ideas and even add a few new ones. My vision is simple: Schedule four doubleheaders per team each season, tweaking a few roster rules for those days only and distributing the extra off-days evenly throughout the rest of the season season.

 

Pros, Cons, and Solutions for Doubleheaders

Current Pros

·      Full Baseball Days:

From my biased fan perspective, this is the single greatest reason to have occasional doubleheaders. During the dog days of the summer, us diehards live and breathe baseball. To have a full day of following baseball – in the background, foreground, or in person – is a pristine pleasure.

·      Neat Records and Stats:

The record for hits in a doubleheader is nine, last reached by Lee Thomas in 1961. No team has had more than 26 strikeouts in a doubleheader, last accomplished by the 1971 Giants. These are two neat records that I think are breakable, but there are countless other examples. And then there are the other cool stats: sweeps vs. splits, 1^st vs. 2^nd games, etc…a sabermetrician’s dream.

·      Honoring the Past:

Baseball is a game with such a rich and beautiful history, and doubleheaders are part of that history. Not only are they a symbolic nod to the past; they also provide specific links to players and teams from the past. Imagine all the doubleheader trivia that will be referenced – unique historical doubleheaders, crazy historical stats, and players doing things for the first time since a Tony Oliva or Walter Johnson.

 

Current Cons, Solutions, and Future Pros

·      Scheduling difficulties:

Doubleheaders which are postponed will be extremely tough to reschedule. Solution: Schedule doubleheaders in the middle of series, and include a scheduled off-day following each series with a doubleheader.

·      Money:

Classic doubleheaders were single-pay events that occurred back-to-back – essentially two games for the price of one. This would conflict with baseball’s financial interests. Solutions: Require separate admission for each game, and try to plan for a few hours between games. If some Game 1 moochers stay in the park for Game 2, they can just take up empty seats and consume more ballpark goods (Future Pro). Also, try to schedule some doubleheaders between rivals, including interleague rival matchups. Teams that play in the same city could even play each game in a different park, the so-called “home-and-home” doubleheader. Imagine the possibilities of an annual Yankees-Mets ‘subway day’ (Future Pro).

·      Player exhaustion: 

Within a 162-game schedule, doubleheaders are a source of unnecessary physical stress and exhaustion for players, especially the bullpen. Solutions: First, expand the 2012 collective bargaining agreement rule of 26-man rosters; instead, allow teams to expand to 30 players for doubleheaders. This could actually be a neat way to showcase farm system talent (Future Pro). Additionally, introduce a rule forbidding managers from using relief pitchers in both games until all relief pitchers not used in the first game have been used in the second. This could make for some interesting managerial decisions and occasional opportunities for backup closers to prove themselves (Future Pro). Finally, require managers to start two different catchers.