If you didn’t catch the recent brawl between the Blue Jays and Rangers, you should definitely check it out here. What we have here is a perfect example of old-school baseball. Bautista did what he had to do to break up a double play and Odor followed it up with a right hand. The fight stemmed from a Bautista bat flip last year, escalating into an all-out brawl behind second base. But new MLB rules have made this type of baseball almost obsolete, at the expense of the game.
A friend of mine told me a while back that he believes that the NFL will be the first professional sports league to go under. He thought that the changing rules, among other things, would drive fans away. These NFL rules, meant to protect player safety, have left some fans unhappy. To be honest, I don’t know anything about football, and can’t really comment on its rules. What I do know is that they have been in reaction to player injuries. Especially concussions.
I see the same thing happening to Major League Baseball. In 2011, Buster Posey was run over by Scott Cousins, breaking his leg and ending his season. This prompted the MLB to make it illegal for catchers to block the plate, with the hope of preventing collisions at home plate. Last year in the playoffs, Chase Utley slid hard into second base, just like Bautista, breaking Ruben Tejada’s leg. This year, the MLB outlawed hard slides intended to break up a play.
A close look at these two incidents reveals that these rules aren’t really necessary. First the Posey play. Posey had his back turned to the third base line, his legs weren’t underneath him properly, all while he was blocking the plate without the ball. Scott Cousins came in hard and speared Posey, a cheap shot in my opinion. The blame for this incident falls on both players. Posey should have never been in front of the plate, turned away from the base path. When Cousins hit him, he was out of position, causing his injury. Cousins should have never hit Posey the way he did. He hit a defenseless player like an NFL linebacker, shoulders down, full speed. No rule could have prevented this injury.
The Utley incident is the same way. Sure, Utley slid way too late, almost tackling Tejada instead of sliding into him. But Tejada is at fault here too. He had a bad toss from the second basemen and was out of position at the bag. He had his back to the line and his feet were on the ground during a double play in a playoff game. What was he expecting?
Players are investments, expensive ones at that. As contracts continue to rise, owners will continue to seek to protect their investments. Before we know it, the MLB will fall apart. We’ll have safety bags at first base like in little league. Pitchers will be ejected for pitching inside. The MLB will turn into a game of strict rules governed by instant replay, instead of by the umpires and players.
One of baseball’s greatest aspects is its past. No sport has a greater or more storied history then Major League Baseball. Most fans know the story of Ty Cobb sharpening his spikes on the top step of the bench before games. Many of us can remember how hard Pete Rose played every single day, causing his own fair share of injuries. As our players get better and we learn more about sports health, the game will become safer on its own. But if we throttle the game in reaction to freak injuries, we’ll continue to lose pieces of the game.
