New York Mets fans love their baseball through and through. Nonetheless, the biggest argument between baseball fans and the fans of pretty much any other major league sport, is that baseball is too slow. In fact, it’s becoming even slower.
Though the baseball world has been in turmoil the past few months, to say the least, even the most die-hard fans can agree that there is a need for some changes to be made in order to speed up the game.
I, like many other Mets fans, spent July 18, 2019 watching the nailbiting dual between Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner only for the Mets to suffer a disappointing 2-3 loss at the bottom of the 16th inning.
Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner seems to have a pretty plausible solution to this dilemma which may both spice up and shorten the game of baseball, while also making the Mets a stronger contender in close games.
As many are aware, our beloved baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has been trying to implement small changes to the game to shorten the length for years, including time limits on pitch clocks, instant replay, and mound visits. Much to his disappointment none of these have made a drastic change in the time of play.
Turner seemed to agree with those who were against Manfred’s approach, deeming the commissioner’s efforts misguided with his elaborate extra-inning plan.
Turner described his idea to Spectrum sports earlier this year explaining how “Instead of playing 17 innings, you get one extra inning, you play the 10th inning, and no one scores, then you go to a home run derby. You take each team’s three best hitters and you give them all five outs and see who hits the most homers.”
I was hesitant to even consider the idea at first, as many probably are, but hear me out. Even though there are so many other ways the Mets manage to blow games that are seemingly “in the bag”, the hopeful fan in me wants to think that this could be a game-changer for our scrappy underdog of a team.
This is because of one person. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t guess who.
Pete Alonso, the reigning home run derby champ, would surely help the Mets win some games under this scenario. Throwing in other power bats like Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis, the Mets could create a potent extra-inning home run derby lineup.
With the extra-inning derby in place, there is the potential to take some stress off of the bullpen by not tiring them out just waiting for that one run to be hit in.
I know it’s a long shot, and there are much bigger issues being debated right now. But one can dream, and Turner’s idea brings out the optimism of a better world of baseball in the future.
Do you think this is something that would help or hurt the Mets on the off-chance of it ever being implemented?
