Little League Meets the Majors

Games during the first week of Spring Training rarely resemble the type of baseball we'll see played in July and August.  Teams play only half of their starting lineups, and those guys only play half the game before the non-roster invitees with numbers in the 90s take over.  For pitchers, it's all about getting work, so they throw their set number of pitches (or innings) and call it a day.

These are all things about Spring Training that we all accept.  There's absolutely no reason for guys who you know will be on the team to get four at-bats in a Spring Training game!  It's much more important that he's healthy and good to go April 1.  Let the guys who are fighting for roster spots get the bulk of the at-bats and the innings.  After all, they're about the only people that these games actually matter for!

Likewise, ties are a fact of life in Spring Training.  Nobody wants to play extra innings in an exhibition game!  However, this year, they've made a change that will make Spring Training games even shorter.  If the managers agree, games can be shortened to seven or even as few as five innings!  I think this is only for the first few weeks, and I'd imagine teams will want to play nine as the season gets closer.  But the fact remains, there have already been a number of seven- and five-inning games this Spring.

That's not the only new rule that has caused a lot of controversy and confusion this Spring, though.  Several teams have taken advantage of the opportunity to "flip" innings, a practice straight out of Little League that, even if it does have some practical purpose, has been universally derided.  Hopefully MLB sees this response, realizes they made a mistake and ends the "flip" inning rule once we get closer to the regular season.  Because it's dumb.

Granted, this rule only came about because of our buddy COVID and the adjustments teams have had to make as a result.  Teams still have to follow all of the social distancing requirements, so there are far fewer players in camp than usual.  The Minor Leaguers won't head to Florida and Arizona until the end of March, when the Big Leaguers are gone.  As a result, everybody's limited to just the players on the 40-man roster and their non-roster invitees.

Fewer players in camp means fewer pitchers in camp.  Then you throw in the fact that some pitchers are limited or unavailable early in the Spring for whatever reason, and teams only have a certain amount of pitchers who can throw in a given game.  And, naturally, just like in any game, it's possible that he could get into trouble.  So, to avoid pitchers having to throw too many pitches and/or teams having to use more pitchers than they have available, the "flip" inning rule was instituted.

Under the "flip" inning rule, managers have the option of ending the inning once the pitcher reaches 20 pitches.  It doesn't matter how many outs there are or how many runners are on base.  Once the pitcher hits 20 pitches, the manager can pull the plug and the inning is automatically over.  So, basically, it's a mercy rule.

Needless to say, fans (and players) are a little upset about it.  On Monday, Garret Richards of the Red Sox was the first pitcher to benefit from it.  In the first inning of Boston's game against Atlanta, Richards walked in a run and got just one out.  But, since he had already thrown 23 pitches, the inning ended.  Richards then went back out and had a 1-2-3 second.  When asked about it after the game, he was clearly frustrated.  "Obviously you want to finish it and you want to make all the outs that your outing requires," he said.

Then the White Sox played the Rangers on Tuesday and the rule was invoked not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times!  In a six-inning game (that ended in a 5-5 tie)!  Texas ended the bottom of the second with Jose Abreu up and the bases loaded, then did it again the bottom of the fifth in a tie game. 

Sorry, but that's not baseball!  I know it's Spring Training, but if you're gonna call these "games," you need to treat them as such.  Especially since most people will have no idea what's going on!  (The White Sox fans figured it out by third time.)

So far, those are the only two games I'm aware of where the "flip" inning has been utilized.  If you ask me, that's two games too many.  It's probably not a coincidence that they happened within the first three days of Spring Training games, either.  (The Phillies had a nine-run fourth against the Yankees on Wednesday, but the Yankees didn't pull the plug.  They made a mid-inning pitching change instead....and they both threw more than 20 pitches in the inning!)

I understand the desire to limit a guy's number of pitches, but the integrity of the game needs to be considered here.  And, when the games start to count, you're not gonna have this rule to bail somebody out.  They'll have to figure out their own way to get out of a jam.  And, frankly, if these pitchers are fighting for roster spots, don't you want to see if they can rather than just handing them a get-out-of-jail-free card?

It's especially frustrating when there's two out.  He could literally throw one more pitch and get out of the inning.  Likewise, how is it fair to the opposing team, which put together the rally only to have it suddenly stopped because the other manager decided the inning was over?  Their hitters are trying to get at-bats and/or make the team, too, and you're taking important reps away from them.

Most managers, of course, love the rule.  They can build their pitching plans ahead of time without having to deviate from them.  More importantly, it keeps pitchers healthy by not requiring them to have extended outings.  Which is also why managers are in favor of playing shorter games this early in Spring Training.

To his credit, Tony La Russa has seen the light.  He's one of those managers who was excited about the "flip" rule...until he got into a game situation and saw a rally killed by it.  Then, when both teams did it, it became even harder to swallow.  That's why he vowed that the White Sox will do everything they can to avoid "flipping" innings for the rest of Spring Training (they could simply choose to not do it!).

Hopefully, more managers will follow the Hall of Famer's lead.  Because the rule itself was well-intentioned.  The problem is with the execution.  Nobody wants to see an inning just randomly stopped in the middle.  Not the pitcher who's getting bailed out, not the team whose rally is getting killed, and especially not the fans.