Reusse: Playoff Pace Of Game

[Seth Stohs]

Reusse wrote a blog on baseball's pace of game and how it is turning him to watching hockey.

 

Specifically, he talked about the game the other night that was 4:32 for a nine-inning game and its 1:06 seventh inning.

 

I completely agree... but then again, I haven't watched more than 15 total innings of playoff baseball over the last few years. So, it'd be a bit hypocritical of me to disagree with him.

 

 

http://www.startribune.com/baseball-s-pace-drives-baseball-lover-to-hockey/397200271/

 

 

[jimmer]

 

Reusse wrote a blog on baseball's pace of game and how it is turning him to watching hockey.

 

Specifically, he talked about the game the other night that was 4:32 for a nine-inning game and its 1:06 seventh inning.

 

I completely agree... but then again, I haven't watched more than 15 total innings of playoff baseball over the last few years. So, it'd be a bit hypocritical of me to disagree with him.

 

 

http://www.startribune.com/baseball-s-pace-drives-baseball-lover-to-hockey/397200271/

The bright side is that if Reusse focuses on hockey, maybe he'll give up baseball completely and he can stop writing his nonsense :-)  BTW, he pretty much backhanded slapped hockey in that article, which is also a great sport.  

 

I prefer THIS take on the long game, myself:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-mlb-playoffs-just-played-to-their-base/

 

I LOVED that game, myself, and this postseason season has me enthralled.

 

 

[Seth Stohs]

 

The bright side is that if Reusse focuses on hockey, maybe he'll give up baseball completely and he can stop writing his nonsense :-)  BTW, he pretty much backhanded slapped hockey in that article, which is also a great sport.  

 

Most knowledgeable baseball guy I know. Knows more than 99% of us have forgotten. Which is what makes this such an important article. 

[Mr. Brooks]

Most knowledgeable baseball guy I know. Knows more than 99% of us have forgotten. Which is what makes this such an important article.

Really?

You mean the guy that wrote "what's not to like? " this spring, about a team that went on to lose over 100 games?

[TheLeviathan]

 

Most knowledgeable baseball guy I know. Knows more than 99% of us have forgotten. Which is what makes this such an important article. 

 

He knows a lot, but he also seems to have gone off track in recent years.

[jimmer]

 

Most knowledgeable baseball guy I know. Knows more than 99% of us have forgotten. Which is what makes this such an important article. 

Yeah, the bolded part is just an opinion, I'm not sure is based on actual fact.  You like him, that's good, but there's no way to know if that's true (especially since all of us have different levels of baseball knowledge). Just because he writes about it, doesn't mean he's some baseball jedi.  

[Seth Stohs]

 

Really?
You mean the guy that wrote "what's not to like? " this spring, about a team that went on to lose over 100 games?

 

Really... and we were all wrong about that. I don't expect writers or anyone to predict the future accurately.

[Seth Stohs]

 

He knows a lot, but he also seems to have gone off track in recent years.

 

He knows how to garner a reaction, for sure... but that's his job as a columnist... Very smart man. Knows baseball.

[jimmer]

A lot of us predicted us to have a worse record than last year.  No one figured we'd lose as many as we did, but a lot of us found LOTS of things to 'not like' about roster construction.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Yeah, the bolded part is just an opinion, I'm not sure is based on actual fact.  You like him, that's good, but there's no way to know if that's true (especially since all of us have different levels of baseball knowledge). Just because he writes about it, doesn't mean he's some baseball jedi.  

 

You are correct... that was an opinion. It was not based on any data or statistics.

[jimmer]

IMO, Mr. Reusse just likes to push old school baseball agenda.  When I read his stuff, it reminds me of what I used to read in the papers almost 40 years ago.  That appeals to a good chunk of baseball fans and there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone should be able to enjoy the game the way they want to.

 

But the whole 'back in the good old days' or 'back in my day' kind of writing doesn't do much for me.  

[Thrylos]

And both Cleveland ALCS games finished at 2:40.

 

Random samples. 

 

And sick and tired of people calling themselves baseball fans who want to watch less of the game they claim they love.  If you like baseball, you would want to watch it more.  If you are bored of baseball or have short attention span, then longer games bother you, but don't call yourself a baseball fan.

Go watch hockey.

Or something...

[jimmer]

 

And both Cleveland ALCS games finished at 2:40.

 

Random samples. 

 

And sick and tired of people calling themselves baseball fans who want to watch less of the game they claim they love.  If you like baseball, you would want to watch it more.  If you are bored of baseball or have short attention span, then longer games bother you, but don't call yourself a baseball fan.

Go watch hockey.

Or something...

Did you read this?

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-mlb-playoffs-just-played-to-their-base/

 

That was a great article

 

 

[Thrylos]

 

Did you read this?

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-mlb-playoffs-just-played-to-their-base/

 

That was a great article

 

Love the last paragraph:

 

Baseball can’t be what it cannot be. Baseball is a game that requires an investment, an investment of time and an investment of mental energy. That might, perhaps, cause it to become decreasingly popular over the years and decades to come. I can’t predict the population. What I’m sure of is that baseball still has its base. It has its core of loyal supporters, its followers who understand the demands of being a good and decent fan in the first place. Those four hours and 32 minutes were for us

 

Cannot add anything more...

[jimmer]

 

Love the last paragraph:

 

Baseball can’t be what it cannot be. Baseball is a game that requires an investment, an investment of time and an investment of mental energy. That might, perhaps, cause it to become decreasingly popular over the years and decades to come. I can’t predict the population. What I’m sure of is that baseball still has its base. It has its core of loyal supporters, its followers who understand the demands of being a good and decent fan in the first place. Those four hours and 32 minutes were for us

 

Cannot add anything more...

I was partial to:

 

This wasn’t a baseball game that would win people over. It wouldn’t win the support of people on the fence, and among those already lacking any interest, they might say this game was “so baseball” like an insult. There wasn’t a sequence of flashy plays. There were home runs, but they weren’t memorable home runs, and the game didn’t conclude with a walk-off. I don’t think there are clips from this game that are going to go viral. This wasn’t a game you could just enjoy if you didn’t know the details. So much about baseball is in the details. It’s in the context. You can sit down for any hockey game and enjoy some of the hits and the highlights. At its best, baseball asks you to think. It’s a demand, which makes it a burden, and for many it’s a turn-off. It’s their loss. To baseball fans who’ve heard the good word, Game 5 was an instant classic.

[Thrylos]

 

I was partial to:

 

This wasn’t a baseball game that would win people over. It wouldn’t win the support of people on the fence, and among those already lacking any interest, they might say this game was “so baseball” like an insult. There wasn’t a sequence of flashy plays. There were home runs, but they weren’t memorable home runs, and the game didn’t conclude with a walk-off. I don’t think there are clips from this game that are going to go viral. This wasn’t a game you could just enjoy if you didn’t know the details. So much about baseball is in the details. It’s in the context. You can sit down for any hockey game and enjoy some of the hits and the highlights. At its best, baseball asks you to think. It’s a demand, which makes it a burden, and for many it’s a turn-off. It’s their loss. To baseball fans who’ve heard the good word, Game 5 was an instant classic.

 

Indeed. 

 

Which makes Reusse either a non-baseball fan or a troll.

 

Pick your poison.

[TheLeviathan]

Personally, I'm not a fan of anything I like droning on and on with filler.  I love Game of Thrones but if we spent an hour watching a character ride a horse from one place to another with nothing happening...I probably wouldn't enjoy it.  (Literally nothing but the person bouncing in the saddle over and over and over again until the credits hit)  And there would probably be some schmo somewhere that would tell me I didn't enjoy the details of the town names that were passed through with no interaction.  And that I'm not a "real fan" if I didn't appreciate it.

 

Sorry, but at some point I'd like to watch baseball.  Not reasons for commercials.

[twinssouth]

The Cleveland Toronto game moved along nicely and now watching Cubs Dodgers with plenty of action and great plays. Really impressed with Cleveland and the Cubs, wow. Baez steals home, Bryant's power, Lester's dominant pitching. I'm hoping its Cleveland Cubs WS. Reusse needs to rethink his position.

[Willihammer]

The fact that hockey and baseball are being played at the same time is kinda sad. MLB maybe has gotten a little greedy with the number of games and the growing playoffs. It could trim down the schedule, wrap things up by hockey season, and avoid conflicting so much with NHL and NFL.

[Mr. Brooks]

Really... and we were all wrong about that. I don't expect writers or anyone to predict the future accurately.

I would expect someone who is as much an expert as you claim him to be, to be able to look at a roster and tell the difference between one of the best we've had in a while, and maybe the worst in our history.

It's not like I'm nitpicking a few games off his prediction.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I would expect someone who is as much an expert as you claim him to be, to be able to look at a roster and tell the difference between one of the best we've had in a while, and maybe the worst in our history.
It's not like I'm nitpicking a few games off his prediction.

 

Pace of game is really the subject here... but pretty sure no one looked at the Twins roster this spring and said they'd win 59 games.

[KirbyDome89]

Such is the game of baseball, it has no clock which is one of the best parts of the game. I don't think I'm ever going to be on board with limiting the number of pitching changes that are allowed in a game. I think a manager should be able to utilize all 25 men on that roster each game. There are issues such as commercial time between innings and pitching changes, and ungodly long instant replay reviews that should be addressed long before drastic changes are made to the way the game is played. 

[jimmer]

 

Pace of game is really the subject here... but pretty sure no one looked at the Twins roster this spring and said they'd win 59 games.

Again, I don't think his point was that Reusse didn't see we'd lose 100+ games, it was about him looking at this roster and thinking it was good, a winning roster.  It's about him saying 'what's not to like' about the roster and that our biggest hurdle is the strength of the AL Central (as opposed to, say, our pitching, or our defense, or our average offense). 

 

A lot of us predicted us to have a worse record than last year.  No one figured we'd lose as many as we did, but a lot of us found LOTS of things to 'not like' about roster construction.  A lot of us mentioned how poorly the roster was constructed quite often.

[KGB]

Again, I don't think his point was that Reusse didn't see we'd lose 100+ games, it was about him looking at this roster and thinking it was good, a winning roster.  It's about him saying 'what's not to like' about the roster and that our biggest hurdle is the strength of the AL Central (as opposed to, say, our pitching, or our defense, or our average offense). 

 

A lot of us predicted us to have a worse record than last year.  No one figured we'd lose as many as we did, but a lot of us found LOTS of things to 'not like' about roster construction.  A lot of us mentioned how poorly the roster was constructed quite often.

Getting one prediction right or wrong doesn't determine your baseball knowledge. I don't think we would have to look too hard to find bad predictions for everyone on this site.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Getting one prediction right or wrong doesn't determine your baseball knowledge. I don't think we would have to look too hard to find bad predictions for everyone on this site.

 

I agree, at the same time we can't revere his every opinion as pure baseball gold for the same reason.  

That said, he's not wrong about this.  At some point we have to look at what is really going on with the length of that game: inordinate amounts of stalling, commercials being dragged out, and a variety of other factors.  Baseball and college football both have some serious issues with it.

[Vanimal46]

Personally, I'm not a fan of anything I like droning on and on with filler. I love Game of Thrones but if we spent an hour watching a character ride a horse from one place to another with nothing happening...I probably wouldn't enjoy it. (Literally nothing but the person bouncing in the saddle over and over and over again until the credits hit) And there would probably be some schmo somewhere that would tell me I didn't enjoy the details of the town names that were passed through with no interaction. And that I'm not a "real fan" if I didn't appreciate it.

 

Sorry, but at some point I'd like to watch baseball. Not reasons for commercials.

Brilliant analogy! Agreed 100%, there's so much filler in between the action that it can be hard to watch.

 

If Manfred really wants to increase pace of play, don't allow commercial breaks to occur after every single pitching change.

[Vanimal46]

The fact that hockey and baseball are being played at the same time is kinda sad. MLB maybe has gotten a little greedy with the number of games and the growing playoffs. It could trim down the schedule, wrap things up by hockey season, and avoid conflicting so much with NHL and NFL.

Every sports league is guilty of this, and should trim down on their schedules. There's no reason whatsoever for hockey to be finishing their season in June for example... When the weather gets warm, the last thing I want to think about is ice and cold!

[jimmer]

 

Getting one prediction right or wrong doesn't determine your baseball knowledge. I don't think we would have to look too hard to find bad predictions for everyone on this site.

I agree

[terrydactyls]

Every sports league is guilty of this, and should trim down on their schedules. There's no reason whatsoever for hockey to be finishing their season in June for example... When the weather gets warm, the last thing I want to think about is ice and cold!

I wholeheartedly agree, but....

 

If leagues cut their schedules by 10%, are player unions going to accept a corresponding 10% cut in salaries? I have my doubts that would happen. Hockey and basketball could eliminate some off days (like hockey did a few years back), but that might also require union aproval. I think greed will override any shortening of seasons.

[Thrylos]

Again, I do not get baseball fans who want shorter seasons and/or fewer games.  People with casual interest in baseball, sure.  Fans no way.