Once the lockout ended the original rule change was that baseball would not be doing the automatic runner or ghost runner during extra innings games. But a few weeks after agreeing to terms to start the season it was announced that the league has approved to bring back the automatic runner in extra innings. This decision is receiving mixed emotions from the fan some like the rule some can’t stand it.
Personally, I like the rule, I know the baseball purist are really the ones that can’t stand it because it’s simply not the game they know, but a baseball game is long enough and I am all for trying to speed it up if the game is to go into extra innings. The longest game in MLB history was in 25 innings back in 1984 and lasted a total time of 8 hours and 6 minutes. Granted the game was suspended after a certain amount of time and resumed to finish the next day, but still who the heck wants to be a part of a game that lasts over 8 hours?
Carlton Fisk by the way caught all 25 innings and even though I dislike everything about the Red Sox I got to give him some credit that is pretty impressive. The longest game in professional baseball was a minor league game that started on April 19, 1981, and this game also had to be stopped and finished the next day but the game lasted 33 innings. Is this rare? Of course but the point is this should never happen and extra innings should have a way to speed it up.
Look at the NHL they used to play another 20 minute overtime period and then if nobody scored they would go to a shootout. A hockey game is already around 3 hours long and if you add another full 20 min period of overtime and nobody scored then going to a shootout you will be there all day before you finally get the end of the game.
So, they made a change the Overtime period is now 5 minutes, and it’s 3 on 3 hockey to increase the chance of scoring a goal, and then if nobody scores they quickly jump into a shootout where it’s the best of three. So, Hockey found a way to speed up the overtime rules to make sure the game doesn’t last much longer than it already does
The automatic runner simply does the same thing to help speed up the end result. I will say that the rule should not be a part of postseason baseball but for regular-season games, there is no need for a game that could potentially go on for over 4+ hours.
The only thing that irritates me about the rule is the way people refer to it as the ghost runner. It can’t be a ghost runner, because a ghost runner is when you technically have someone on base but nobody is actually physically occupying it. If you played some backyard whiffle ball you know what I am talking about!
I gave my thoughts on the rule change, know I would like to see what you think of the rule vote on the poll below!
