[ad_1]
Thursday afternoon is one of rejoicing, as the months-long, acrimonious MLB lockout has finally come to a conclusion.
Depending on one’s level of baseball fan purity, there is either excitement or dread to learn that a couple of pandemic-era MLB rule changes are reverting back to what they were before 2020.
According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, doubleheaders will return to nine-inning games apiece, and extra innings will no longer start with a runner on second base.
These past two seasons, doubleheader games each had seven innings.
Functionally, what this means is baseball games will very likely be longer on average than they have been these past two seasons. Also close to self-evident is that no longer having a runner in scoring position in extra innings will expand game times as well.
The MLB and MLBPA also agreed to a universal designated hitter — meaning, aside from anomalies like Shohei Ohtani, pitchers will no longer hit — and an expanded, 12-team playoff. Last season, 10 teams made the postseason.
As part of the expanded, 12-team playoff, there will be no more Game 163 tiebreakers, according to The Athletic. Instead, MLB will utilize NFL-type tiebreakers. In addition, there will now be no re-seeding for the LDS – the No. 1 seed will play the winner of the No. 4 and 5-seed series, and the No. 2 seed will play the winner of the No. 3 and 6-seed series, according to the report.
[ad_2]