We didn’t talk about this on the MMCS but I just finished a promotional blog for yesterday’s episode and my fingers are still warm from the keyboard so I wanted to address this real quick in a couple basic talking points:
- It’s a good thing
- Probably a bad starting point
- The drama behind using challenges will far outweigh the competitive spirit
- The fans are the biggest winners
Let’s tackle these together and hopefully by the end we both feel smarter.
#1 – It’s A Good Thing – I could just use this example from last night:
25 missed calls is way too many. And while isolated to one game, the broader point is that there’s so many missed calls all the time and absolutely no check or balance to incentivize more accuracy. You’re historically merciless to the umpire’s ego and we’ve seen that turn sideways on so many occasions. So as a starting point let’s just agree it’s a good step in the right direction of more Fair Play.
Some of you disagree. That’s fine. I understand we’re abandoning tradition and moving towards a different product. But overall we need some accountability from umpires for a very long time and that’s more important than your own particular feelings towards old fashioned baseball.
#2 Probably A Bad Starting Point To Give Just 2 Challenges – If you’re making an argument, I would say this is like dipping one toe in Lake Superior then telling your buddies you swam 27 miles to get a bad handjob. There’s roughly hundreds of missed calls across MLB each night yet each team only gets two challenges? Feels light and quite frankly, rather performative if we’re being honest.
But it also introduces a much more important consideration, and that’s…
#3 Elite Drama Behind The 2 Challenges – I will speak from personal experience as a Cubs fan. Matt Shaw gets screwed in the 2nd inning and he wants a challenge. Does Craig Counsell give it to him or save it for later innings? Or is it just up to the batter in that moment to ask for a challenge? Does it have to come from the manager? I have a lot of questions because I am picturing so many situations where a rookie gets fucked by his own team for not granting him an early challenge. Or do you just save it for later innings for every single game? Or do you give the challenges to your most disciplined hitters?
And this goes both ways too? So you get a challenge for your pitchers and your hitters?
So many questions and yet the only answer I know for certain is that 2 challenges are not enough if we’re giving out challenges. And that absolutely means there’s going to be more internal drama and fireworks and downright resentment towards your own teammates for blowing a challenge.
Personally I love that because there should be more drama in MLB.
That’s gotten phased out by the lack of steroids and the influence of statistics. Both have drastically calmed down the central nervous system of an MLB clubhouse and I think that’s kinda lame for fans.
Which brings us to the final point.
#4 This Is A Huge Win For Fans – It marginally solves a problem while giving us a lot more drama and theater for later innings. We can be mad at bad challenges. We can be mad for not saving them. We can be mad for wasting them on bad players. So many different feelings can emerge now and that’s always a good thing as a fan.
There’s also the ace up your sleeve if used appropriately that we won’t get fucked too hard in the 9th, which is nice.
And it also introduces a small but worthy layer of protection to getting stuffed by umpires every single night. Which isn’t really on purpose at all but more a product of a demanding job. And yet it still bothers me every single time. So having the opportunity to swing a big moment goes a long way for use diehards that lose sleep over this shit. I can guarantee you that.
As for players – there’s so many times you get fucked on a pitch. And every time you do, someone equally benefits. So in theory it’s a zero-sum move on an individual basis. Some guys get more calls the others but across the entire league, it all cancels out at the end of the day. Your team gets boned tonight means someone else benefited from a bad call. And over time that stuff generally equals out.
But for fans, we really only remember the times we get fucked hard and I like have a little protection for my mentals.
Even if it’s just 2 pitches, that’s 2 more pitches than we had at the start of the year and I appreciate Rob Manfred throwing us this bone.
Most importantly though. And by far the biggest takeaway is the ensuing drama about who gets what challenges.
Max Scherzer just lost both challenges on the first hitter of the game
Perfect.
Bring me the robots.