Earlier this week, the Frontier League announced an alteration to its extra-innings format. The 15-team Frontier League is an independent circuit designated as an official partner league of Major League Baseball.
Beginning next season, the Frontier League will implement a system to ensure that marathon games don’t go into effect. The first extra inning — the tenth in regular contests, the eighth on days with scheduled seven-inning doubleheaders — will proceed according to International Tiebreaker Rules. The ITB rule involves placing a runner on second base to start the inning, as MLB has done over the past two years. The Frontier League’s rule change comes if the game remains tied after that frame, as the 11th inning (or 9th in doubleheaders) will proceed in the “Sudden Death” format.
Before the start of the inning, the manager of the home team will decide whether to play offense or defense. The offensive team will begin the inning with a free runner — the previous batter in the lineup — on first base. Picking up wherever they’re scheduled to hit in the lineup, the offensive team has three outs to score the runner. If the runner scores, the offensive team wins. If they don’t score, the defensive team wins.
In recent seasons, MLB has asked its partner leagues to experiment with rules changes it could try in the future. That isn’t the case here, though, and there’s no indication MLB is considering implementing this rule down the road. According to the Frontier League, the idea was first proposed by one of its former managers and deliberated upon by various league skippers and administrators.
As J.J. Cooper of Baseball America writes, independent leagues face outsized challenges in managing pitcher workloads compared to those facing MLB teams. Independent teams have stricter roster limits and face the possibility of losing players to affiliated ball. Without a farm system to call upon in the event of a marathon game that taxes a pitching staff, independent leagues have tried creative ways to limit length of extra-inning contests.
Last season, the Frontier League and Pioneer League broke ties with a Home Run Derby swing-off. For the Frontier League, at least, that didn’t sit well with managers. “As fan friendly as that was, it just didn’t feel right. The whole thing was decided by how good your (batting practice) thrower is,” Evansville Otters manager Andy McCauley told Cooper. “You got eight pitches. If you didn’t have a guy throwing strikes, you were in trouble. … At least now, there is some baseball strategy still involved other than just eight swings of the bat.“
nope. just nope.
Somewhere Bill Veeck is smiling.
Wait… So what’s the final score if the defense wins? Tied final score? But still with a winner and loser awarded?
Yeah, this is so stupid, let me count the ways.
This is crazy.
You spelled stupid incorrectly.
Just call it a tie after 9. So dumb.
Pretty sure the frontier league is gate driven. A tie is bad for business.
No sport should every end in a tie. Period.
Hence we allow soccer to tie!
Like he said no sport should end in a tie. Soccer ends in a tie because it is not a sport
A big reason many of us do not like soccer.
In the 90s went to a soccer game at the Meadowlands. I literally could not stop dozing off and ended in 1-1 tie.
One of the many reasons.
No way. Nope. This is the nfl rules that everybody hates
Right. The NFL has been slowly moving away from this in the last decade with more people now clamoring for a full 15 minute overtime. Not sure why baseball keeps pushing towards stuff like this.
Bad leadership!
Interesting idea. I like the strategy of choosing offense or defense in sudden death.
Why would anyone choose defense?
Cause you know your next three hitters and what pitchers you have in the pen
Why would you choose offense?
The probability of a team scoring a run with a runner on first and no outs isn’t nearly as high as it is with a runner on 2nd.
If I had a decent amount of confidence in my pitcher—I’d play defense. You don’t give up that run and you win.
Shoot – I totally missed this. I thought they went back and forth until someone scored. I didn’t realize it was just one more half inning.
Thanks!
There’s a Frontier League team near me and I really enjoy their games. They used the horse$#!+ man-on-2nd rule last season and it looked horrible. I’ll still go, but I guess I’ll only enjoy exactly 9 innings of their games and not one pitch more now.
I have a few Frontier teams near where I live. Always a fun time.
Some of the teams used the home derby to break the tie and some used the runner on 2nd.
Suburbs of Chicago where there are 3 I think? I have 2 really close to me in Joliet and Crestwood and then another in Schaumburg.
Jose Canseco (sp) played in the Frontier League.
Baseball should really look into the decline of Nascar over the last 12 years or so. It all began with massive rule changes….and now the tracks have taken down half of all the bleachers.
Also could be fans suddenly realized watching cars go around in a circle for several hours was kinda boring? Just a thought.
Strange that it took them 40+ years to realize that while still packing the stands at local and regional dirt/short tracks. Maybe you’re just kinda stupid? Just a thought.
Nascar’s decline correlates with the implementation of a playoff system, bad rules packages, and the retirement of popular drivers, not just because you ridiculous yanks say “wahhh it’s boring”
Care to enlighten us on what the appeal of Nascar is then? I’m legitimately curious.
Car go vroom
>Strange that it took them 40+ years to realize that while still packing the stands at local and regional dirt/short tracks
Nascar’s core audience isn’t exactly known as the brightest bunch…
They really like tire changes?
Based on all of the NASCAR fans I’ve met, the main appeal appears to be it’s lack of…integration.
This is unfortunate, but some of the reason for NASCAR’s decline is the increased emphasis on safety. There are just less dramatic crashes these days. Good thing for drivers, bad thing for the spectacle of it all.
because people didnt realize that before?
Also maybe less rednecks?
*Fewer
If you’re going to insult a group of people, don’t look like a fool.
The idea that there are fewer rednecks now than 10-15 years ago is…optimistic.
Kinda funny Chads and Karens are assuming NASCAR fans are racist and dumb when they couldn’t even figure out that a rope with a loop on the end of it to pull down a garage door wasn’t actually a noose….
Calm down people…nobody is suggesting putting a NASCAR track in your country club
At this point, they should go to an NHL style point system, where after 10 innings both teams get a point, with a second point available for whomever wins the sudden death.
I like this a lot better than the runner on second crap. Or home run derby crap. Or any of the other “innovative” garbage they pull out of their jock straps. And please don’t with the “it’s not fair for the home team, blah, blah, blah….” If they don’t like it they can win the game in regulation.
Oh and folks, fairness isn’t the objective, so just stop.
Love the man on 2nd rule. Best thing baseball’s done in years. Nothing worse — and less interesting— than a death march to 17 innings.
Baseball is not soccer, thankfully. Literally only 5-10% of all games go into extra innings, and 98% of those extra inning games end in the 10th or 11th.
If someone can’t be bothered to watch one or two extra innings, then they might as well stay home.
yeah, a game decided because of a runner that’s artificially put on base is worse.
Lonely on that island?
I like the runner on second rule as well although sudden death has little appeal. Minimizing going more than 2 or 3 extra innings I believe has a positive impact over a full season. I don’t think it’s any more illegitimate than a full time pinch hitter that never plays the field.
you spelled worst wrong
if they are so hell bent in eliminating extra innings might as well just flip a coin after 9 innings.
The imbalance of this seems worse than a coin flip. I think the Showdown format from BananaBall might be more fun and, somehow, less gimmicky than the ‘offense vs defense’ asymmetrical ending.
We are witnessing the destruction of baseball one bad decision at a time.
You are really going to go there based on an independent league?
Independent league teams have tight margins. They can’t afford to bring on more pitching. If a minor league team runs out of pitching, they call up a player. With the Frontier League, there is no one to call up. I can’t blame them for trying to limit dangers to pitching.
I really like the idea, though mostly from a logistics perspective. As the article mentioned, they have workload concerns and changing from the fam friendly HR Derby could be tough, so it helps address both areas. They can protect their pitchers a bit better, and while gimmicky, sudden death endings can be a lot of fun to argue about strategy.
How dare you read the article before commenting? Where is your hot take, sir?!
#1 – 17 inning games are awesome.
#2 – 17 inning games are exceedingly rare.
#3 – 17 inning games are a fair punishment for teams unable to close the deal sooner.
Also it must stated – LOUDLY – the best way to determine the winner of a baseball game is for each to play BASEBALL.
I can’t be the only one who loves the 14th inning stretch, on the rare occasions that it happens when I’m at the ballpark… 🙂
man, first everyon started copying the shootout (which everyone agrees sucks). now we want the shootout but also with some aspects of the NFL’s bad OT rules too? Creative, but no.
manfraud’s castrated friends.
*Explicative* No!
Coming soon to MLBTR, coverage of your local Little League Spring sign-ups and spaghetti dinner…courtesy of the LOCKOUT.
How about a beer chugging contest. The team that chugs the most in 1-minute wins.
Hmmm, that rule would make that 26th man a bit more interesting….
Matt Stairs would like to unretire if those are the new rules…
Might as well end extra innings with a home run derby or arm wrestling
I personally like the idea of a battle royale.
The funny thing about this post is that the Frontier League really did have a home run derby tie breaker last season.
Waiting for them to implement Rock paper scissors in place of extra innings
How about just stop f-ing with the game?
Because, as the article clearly stated, independent league teams can’t afford extra-long games from a pitcher availability perspective.
Independent ball is a great place to try something different that might increase fan interest. I’m not in favor of bringing this to the majors, but the independent leagues? Sure.
I’d like to see a change to foul balls. If you hit a foul ball, it is now considered a home run. Creates more offense.
Personally, I would like to see a change to ground-rule doubles.
When the ball in play bounces into the stands, it is instead ruled a home run. Also creates more offense.
I’d like to see if a ball bounces into the stands, a fielder has to take it back from the fan who caught it. Creates more fistfights.
Exactly what is wrong with a tie? In any league from MLB to High School?
I would much rather have a tie than this nonsense.
That said, as I posted below, no real baseball fan has as big of an issue with long and/or extra-inning games as MLB thinks they do.
Still, this isn’t MLB we’re talking about here, and MLB didn’t implement this change.
This isn’t the MLB, and the issue isn’t really the fans. It’s not blowing out a limited amount of pitchers.
IDIOTS!
Ooooorrrrrr we could just keep playing baseball how it is now.
You can be a huge baseball fan but not enjoy staying up until 1 am on a Tuesday night watching a 17 inning game. The two things are not mutually exclusive. These “if you don’t like extra innings you must not be a real baseball fan” comments that are so common on this site are very tiresome.
With that being said though, I hate the runner on second rule.
Eh, I digress. I generally don’t see comments like those except where extra-inning rule changes are concerned, so they aren’t frequent enough to wear on me thus far.
That, and I already know I’m a baseball fan. Whether others label me as “real” or “fake” is ultimately not important to my self-perception.
You’re an adult go to sleep, no one is forcing you to stay awake
Then DON’T stay up. Fans today are so spoiled with MLB Network and the ability to watch basically any game you want thru season pass. 95% of the games I enjoyed as a kid, I enjoyed through the reading of box scores in the newspaper the next morning. The game can continue without you watching it.
This is the worst. MLB is overthinking again. Teams should play the 10th inning like normal and then put a runner in first to start each inning after (whoever made the last out). I personally don’t mind the runner in 2nd in extras but maybe this is a suitable compromise.
Not MLB, the Frontier League. As the article says, no indication MLB is considering any of these novelties. Why should they when they can come up with equally asinine changes to baseball entirely on their own?
Yes, I can see that. But I believe the MLB has influence and uses it for trials on, as you called it, asinine proposals.
Right, MLB has used the Frontier League as a testbed for rule changes, but it seems the league came up with these entirely on their own. With all of the dumb ideas for changing baseball coming down the pike under the direction of MLB, it seems we don’t have to worry about these ever seeing the light of day. Or is that just wishful thinking on my part?
Isn’t the Frontier League where they started the completely off the wall guy on second rule? These indy leagues are used for tweaking rules that ARE likely coming in a couple of years.
I’m acknowledging just that. The only thing I disagree with is this current idea of sudden death. Totally stupid in my opinion.
Dumbest rule ive ever heard of
STOP RUINING THE GAME!
A 48-team MLB would be worse.
Maybe…but you always start at absurd in order to make it look like you’re making sacrifices when you’re actually just asking for what you want. If you simply suggested a 36-team league then someone may say that’s too much but when you start at 48 and then drop it to 36 or even 40 then it looks like you’re compromising.
That’s just lame
Extra Inning games is classic and part of baseball tradition. What a travesty mlb is becoming.
Baseball games are already too long for common and young fans. Extra inning games just exacerbate that problem.
Don’t want to watch extra innings? Turn the channel or leave the stadium. It’s not hard. The real fans will enjoy the excitement.
I’m not stating this as my opinion. For a long time now MLB has been looking to bring in more fans. They need and want more “real fans” watching games on tv and going to stadiums.
Agree Bone 19, those are/were best games in regular season.
Bone19 – These aren’t MLB games.
They will be MLB games later though.
If the game is tied after 9 innings the away team then plays until they score a run. The home team then has that many outs to either tie the game up again, score more runs than the away team did in the alloted amount of outs or lose. repeat until there is a winner. Example: Away team hits a 3 run hr in the top of the tenth but made 8 outs before hitting it. Home team gets 8 outs in bottom of the tenth. Still have to pitch to 3 batters but after the tenth inning you can bring back previously used relief pitchers if wanted.
Too much emphasis on homers in that strategy. Heck, it would make more sense to intentionally walk a run in after you get 6 outs or so just so you don’t accidentally give up a multi run hit.
The tiebreaker could be the managers playing rock-paper-scissors at home plate. Best of three, just to make it more exciting.
They’re the frontier of exhibition baseball. I’ll watch.
They should honor the Frontier League name and break every nine-inning tie with a literal shootout.
Whistling country-western theme song, loaded six-shooters… quicker draw wins.
Don’t you know guns kill people and stuff? I have to go to my safe space and cry now.
IMO this is a solution in search of a problem. Egregiously so. Most serious baseball fans don’t have a problem with long games or extra-inning games… and certainly not enough of a problem to be OK with fundamentally changing how extra-inning games are played.
MLB better not even think about doing something like this; the default runner on second is already bad enough.
They aren’t trying to appease the “serious baseball fan.” They are attempting to bring new fans to the game. Everyone on here whining about changes will still continue to watch. Don’t lie to yourself.
The problem isn’t the fans, not really – it’s the pitchers. An independent league team has a finite amount of pitching arms. Use up your arms in a 17 inning game, and the next week is a major problem.
I think, if a game is tied after nine, each team should designate their three best athletes, those six guys should each throw 10 three pointers from NBA range. Most total baskets wins. If tied after that? Bare knuckle boxing, one on one.
What does MLB have against extra innings anyway? Two of the greatest, most memorable games that I’ve ever been to went 14 and 15 innings. McCutchen walk off home run in the 14th inning against the Cardinals in 2015 is legendary in Pittsburgh, and the highlights still make me super happy.. I think the most memorable game that I watched last season was the Dodgers vs Padres that went 16 innings.
If fans don’t want to stay for extra innings, they are free to leave at any time.
youtube.com/watch?v=GtU55hPvfI4
youtube.com/watch?v=doYISVpgbdA
How about Jack Morris’ extra inning complete game in the playoffs. Just that Look he gave the manager who dared to even consider walking out to the mound was worth the price of admission.
It’s better than the HR derby way.
Statistically, unless your bullpen is completely shot, a manager should always choose to be the defense — because the odds are against scoring a run with a runner on first and nobody out, especially if the closer is pitching. So the home team is almost never going to choose to be at the plate.
So what this rule does, really, is prevent hometown fans from enjoying any walk-off hits in the 11th (or later). They’re removing the one thing fans love the most and come to the park hoping to see. Instead, fans get to watch their team be magically granted a pseudo-run and then hopefully close it out. Maybe they can let the pseudo-run guy mime a home run and circle the bases between innings so fans can celebrate taking the lead.
Stupid dumb little league rule that’s used when your losing the sun on a school nite.This is way below average!WEAK
Did anyone read the very short article before commenting? This rule is being tested, because the FL has roster constraints, no farm system to draw from, and often loses players to affiliated ball. These teams can’t be throwing pitchers to the wolves in 16-inning games, so this is a possible alternative to ending in a tie. No one is suggesting this is tested in the minor leagues, let alone MLB, because there would be no reason to do it.
Sean, your rational thinking and comments are not appreciated by many commenters here. Please only provide hot takes based on a quick, inaccurate scan of the article.
Reading comprehension is becoming a lost skill…
“ The 15-team Frontier League is an independent circuit designated as an official partner league of Major League Baseball”
“ MLB has asked its partner leagues to experiment with rules changes it could try in the future. ”
So….where do you think all the stupid rules they have been implementing come from?
Will baseball survive the onslaught of Ivy League Chads and Karens running the game? Guess we will find out.
So, just as the NFL FINALLY starts to maybe figure out that both teams should touch the ball in OT…baseball figures out an ever worse system?
That’s so stupid the Frontier league should immediately be folded. What a joke. Just better to say there can be a tie if no one scores after 11 regular innings
Just like so many once-well-functioning industries, baseball is being reduced to nonsense by its equivalent bureaucrats. We must stop allowing those furthest from the front lines to call-the-shots. Doomed by bureaucracy and the pushing of pencils.
I think they should implement the “pitch to your own team” rule in extra innings.
Frontier League confirmed joke.
Why don’t they just decide the winner by either Rock Paper Scissors or a dance off?
If the concern is wear and tear on the players, why not just make baseball an esport?
The baseball season has always been a grind, that is part of the sport. If you are really worried about wear and tear on the players, cut the number of games to one or two a week so the players are always fresh or make it an esport.
Personally, I like the 162 game season, extra inning games with no gimmicks, and fewer teams in the playoff to reward excellence rather than just being “competitive” or barely above average.
Better yet, just make robot players. Players could be built by different manufacturers but have some guidelines. It would be like Battlebots but baseball.
I think maybe the real driver here is TV & radio, especially TV. Television typically a-lots a 3 to 3 1/2 hour time slot for games. Extra innings forces them to choose between regular scheduled programming or staying with the game. And we all know how money baseball gets from TV.
There’s no 162-game season in the Frontier League.
Due to pitching staff limitations, what would be wrong with having games end in a tie after 10 innings? That’s better than a hokey forced conclusion. Much better.
It’s the Frontier League. Just have ties.
Didn’t we just go through this a few days ago in football how stupid it was that Buffalo didn’t get a chance to score? And now these morons want to essentially have a situation where you have a tie, but you’ll lose?
Just play the game
Independent Leagues have no shortage of pitchers.Stop it,every team in the history of baseball has trouble during and after extra inning games with pitching scheduling.You hall monitors who teach English like a lawyer chasing an ambulance. Should remember what there social club is preaching to the simpletons to advance the narrative of “Im smarter then you are”is myopic and narcissistic.So by all means keep explaining your genius to us all because we can’t wait for y’alls next lessons.I love baseball and I don’t pretend to be a linguist or a publisher.So be easy,us dumb asses need to be nurtured not disciplined.
The negativity is so nasty. I seriously doubt these FL games have good attendance in extra innings. Ending the game in the 11th gives most fans a reason to stay.
Why would we try this??? There would be a mass exodus of fans if it ever happened at MLB level.
How is this not better than the runner-on-second thing? I really like this idea.
I figured out how this could be scored!
Every Save can count as one run, and the definition of Save could be made to include a scoreless extra inning. So, if a team chooses “defense,” the winning run will come from the save.