Dodgers: Andrew Friedman Thinks Extra Inning Rule Will Help
Fans of baseball might not like the drastic rule changes that are coming with 2020, but most of them are necessary at this point. Dodgers’ President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman isn’t exactly fond of the new rules as a fan, but he certainly is as an executive.
Friedman spoke about MLB changing the extra-inning rule with am570’s David Vassegh this morning. The Dodgers’ executive had a lot of positive things to say about the change and what it will do for the team.
Putting on my President of Basbell Ops for the Los Angeles Dodgers hat, I like it a lot in that it’s really hard to navigate through this with the shortened Spring Training, the amount of time off getting guys ready…but I’m also worried about other injuries. Soft tissue injuries, arm injuries to pitchers, that’s something that’s consuming a lot of thoughts. Those games that happened to pop up every once in awhile, where you play 14, 15, 16 innings, rebounding from that would be incredibly difficult.
The rule change implemented by MLB would have a runner start on second in extra-inning games to facilitate a quicker end to play. The hope is that baseball can cut down on longer games while they’re trying to play 60-games in just 66 days. The Dodgers are already going to adjust their style of play to use the DH, but this will be a big change as well.
Friedman did point out that as a fan, he’s not exactly in love with the rule. Luckily, it does help to make his job easier.
From a pure standpoint, from my love of the game aside from my current job, I don’t love it. So, it’s kind of bittersweet I guess.
Here’s hoping that our Dodgers figure out how to hit with runners in scoring position again.
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One of the weak spots the Dodgers have had in this seven year run of success has been hitting with RISP. Let’s hope this year is different.
I have seen the ITB ( international the breaker) used in softball and it adds excitement to the end of the game! It requires strategy, skill and execution by both teams. Being able to end a game in a reasonable time has many advantages, although I’ve still seen ITB games go 3-4 extra innings, but the excitement builds, it’s great!