MLB's extra-inning runner a hard rule to dislike
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 29: Manager Rob Thomson #59 of the Philadelphia Phillies watches batting practice prior to Game Two of the 2022 World Series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on October 29, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Credit: Getty Images/Bob Levey
PHILADELPHIA -- One of baseball’s better innovations in recent memory won’t be making an appearance at this World Series, and will likely never be part of any Fall Classic going forward. Or even a playoff game for that matter.
But that’s not to say the extra-innings rule that starts a runner at second base for the 10th hasn’t been a very successful concept for Major League Baseball, trailing only the universal DH in our opinion.
The so-called traditionalists continue to scoff at the idea of a “ghost runner” or even the derogatory “Manfred Man,’ meant as a slight against commissioner Rob Manfred, who helped implement the radical rule change born of the original pandemic initiatives. Given the length of games, however, along with the offensive futility in recent years -- not to mention the scarcity of healthy pitchers -- it’s nearly impossible to argue against the automatic runner for use in the regular season.
And that’s an important distinction here. We can all agree that October qualifies as a greater test of wills, with higher-stakes outcomes, over a more tightly-packed playoff schedule. Requiring, as Phillies manager Rob Thomson alluded to, the need for real “baseball” -- i.e., the standard extra-innings format.
But when it comes to the six-month schedule, involving 162 games, you really won’t find a dissenting opinion for the automatic runner. Both Thomson and Astros manager Dusty Baker took another opportunity to endorse the rule before Monday’s Game 3 of the World Series was rained out, with Manfred suggesting the chances were good that it would return for the 2023 season.
“Both fans and players like it,” Manfred said Monday. “The clubs like it. Seems like it has legs to me. I have a few people who email me that don’t like it.”
Of those groups, fans seem to be the most divided, although we would posit that the majority of them prefer the same things that commissioner does, which is exactly what the automatic runner undeniably brings to the table: more action, more runs. Oh, and a quicker resolution after enjoying three-plus hours of baseball.
Is there a quirky value to having a game stretch well into the double-digit innings, and maybe stretching your entertainment dollar for an extra hour or perhaps more at the ballpark? We’ll admit to that. But too often it’s also empty calories, as scoreless innings continue to pile up and the spectators bailing before the final out. And that doesn’t even take into account the practical elements of roster management, with bullpens getting wiped out or position players taking a turn on the mound.
For a sport that plays nearly every day, that just doesn’t make sense from a wear-and-tear perspective, for anyone on the roster. If the NFL, NBA and NHL can rely on an overtime format to determine a winner after the end of regulation, then it’s not outlandish for baseball to have a mechanism that achieves the same goal in a reasonably timely fashion. We’re not talking home run derby here -- just a way to produce typical run-scoring plays presumably before midnight.
“During the regular season, I like it,” Thomson said. “During the playoffs, I don't. I think you play baseball.But with the way the rules are now where if you have to option a player down, they're down -- or a pitcher down, they're down for 15 days. So that runner at second base you're not going to get in a 17-, 18-inning game. I mean, the chances are slim. So that helps you with roster juggling and things like that.”
With starters on a shorter leash these days, and managers wedded to pitch counts (at the urging of the front office), it all has a snowball effect on how bullpens are deployed. And there is no greater in-game stress on a manager, determining how many outs are left in his relief corps -- and the impact in the days ahead.
“You're really stringent on pitch counts for your starters and typically they're lower now than they were even 10 years ago,” Thomson said. “So when you get into one of those 17-, 18-inning games, you're going through pretty much everybody out of your bullpen.”
Baker brought up a different aspect, that of altering his extra-inning strategy depending on whether he was at home or not. So for those who maintain that the Manfred shortcut somehow detracted from the thinking element of the game, that’s not true.
“At home you can bunt, you can play for that one run,” Baker said. “On the road, one run doesn't mean that much. I mean, it can mean something, but basically they have an opportunity to tie it up, so you can go back and forth, back and forth. So you probably play for not the big inning, but probably a crooked number on the road, where at home you get the last at-bat and that could be the game.”
Either way, it’s a win-win for baseball, and ultimately the fans. This October did give us two marathon playoff games, with the Guardians needing 15 innings to beat the Rays,1-0, in the Game 2 clincher of the Wild Card series and the Astros edging the Mariners, 1-0, in 18 innings to sweep their ALCS.
That’s a total of two runs in 33 innings of playoff baseball. Since it’s October, we’ll make an exception. But really, who could be in favor of that?
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
