I think most of us would agree baseball has gotten too slow and there's too much inactivity in the modern game.
MLB met last week to discuss possible rule changes, so here are mine, all designed to either speed up the game or make it more exciting.
1. Instant decisions on challenges
No more of this 45-second crap deciding whether to challenge a play. No more of the manager holding up his hand while waiting for his bench coach to get off the phone with the video coordinator to decide whether to challenge. Either you make the call with your naked eye or don't.
It makes the games several minutes longer and can take pitchers out of their rhythm.
2. Move bullpens closer to dugouts
This might not make a huge impact on the length of games, but moving bullpens closer to dugouts would cut down on the 20- to 30-second run-ins from the bullpen, especially with how often teams make pitching changes these days.
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The whole process of a manager slowly walking to the mound, taking the ball, making the call to the 'pen and the pitcher coming in for him warmups would be sped up.
3. Four total pitching changes per game per team (barring injury)
It would add a lot of strategy to the games if you limited the number of decisions a manager can make. The game is overly specialized these days so it would mean we'd see less of a lefty specialist coming in for one batter and then coming out.
It might also create some more offense.
4. Limiting defensive shifts
Two infielders on each side just like it was for a generation. I get that teams want to use the available data to determine where to place their infielders for specific hitters, but it wipes away so many hits and has turned the sport into a strikeout-fest.
Hitters who have trouble beating the shift are trying more than ever before to beat it by hitting the ball out of the ballpark. The result is more home runs but also so many more strikeouts. We're on pace for about 500 more strikeouts than any season in history.
This last one won't be popular, but down with the shifts!
