Baseball is Boring

There is something about bat-and-ball games that attracts so many people to them. Perhaps it is the act of hitting a moving object with a stick. Or perhaps it is the challenge of trying to throw a ball past a batter. Or perhaps it is the child-like game of tag that baserunning reminds us all of.

Even though baseball is our national pastime, if you asked the average American their thoughts about baseball, many, if not most, would probably use the adjective “boring” in their description of the game.

In fact, it isn’t for no reason that the number of people that play baseball in this nation is declining, whereas the number of people playing more “exciting” sports, such as soccer or basketball, is on the rise.

We here at Twenty-First Century Townball believe that the reason that the Massachusetts version of base ball is so much better than The New York version is because the aspects of base ball that are exciting are diminished in the New York version, whereas they are magnified in the Massachusetts version.

What are the aspects of the New York version that make it so boring compared to the Massachusetts version?

Here is what we think:

First: The Existence of a Foul Territory

It is not exactly clear why a “foul” territory was originally invented in the New York style of play. However, we can speculate as to some reasons:

First, it could be that the existence of a foul territory allowed for spectators to view the game from a much closer proximity. This is actually a very good reason. However, we don’t believe that this is a good enough reason as a tradeoff for playability.

Second, it could be that the without the existence of a foul territory in baseball, it may be too easy to get on base. It seems that without a foul territory, a simple bunt down the extension of the first-base line back behind home plate would be a bread-and-butter base hit of the game. And with only nine players on the field, this would undoubtedly swing the balance too far in the direction of the offense.

We here at Twenty-First Century Townball believe that the most likely reason for the creation of a foul territory is because the New York style of play was originally intended to be a slow-pitch bat-and-ball game.

As we explain in our article Swift Pitching in The Massachusetts Game, swift pitching is more suitable for games that have no foul territory (i.e. the Massachusetts version of base ball and Cricket) whereas slow pitching is more suitable for games that have a foul territory (i.e. the New York version of base ball or slow-pitch softball).

With the New York style of play being a slow-pitch game, the ball was intended to be “put in play” by the batter more frequently, as it is in a typical slow-pitch softball game today. The fielding aspect of the game was intended to be more of the focus of the action than it is in modern baseball.

This is actually a very good idea for indeed, in slow-pitch softball, the pitcher is not a significant part of the game. Outs are generally recorded by the fielders, and from a fielding point of view, softball might be one of the most fun games out there.

However, the pitcher-batter duel is an important part of baseball today, and many like the idea of a swift-pitching game over a slow-pitch game.

It’s for good reason that cricket is the second most played sport in the world (second only to soccer). Fans and players alike enjoy the pitching duel that takes place in a swift-pitching type of bat-and-ball game.

Similarly, in the Massachusetts style of play, unlike in baseball, the swift-pitching pitcher and batter duel does not take away from the playability of the game. A ball hit backwards is not a foul ball in the Massachusetts style, as is the case in cricket. Rather, it is very likely to be a great hit!

However, because of the foul-ball aspect, the New York style of play is not the version in which to embrace swift pitching. Many great hits in baseball are foul, and the ball is not put into play very easily. This contributes to baseball being a very “boring” game.

In fact, the next time you are watching a Major League baseball game on T.V., consider the number of foul balls that are hit in an inning. What if all of those hits had been considered fair? To what degree would that add to the excitement of the game?

To put it simply, we here at Twenty-First Century Townball regard baseball to be a very “inside the box” type of game. This is because there are way too many situations in which the ball is considered to be “out of play.” Bat-and-ball games in general are much more exciting when every hit, even those outside the lines, are in.

Second: The Existence of “Walks.”

In the New York style of play, a batter who receives a certain number of bad pitches is granted a “base on balls.” Of course the motivation for this rule is to give the pitcher an incentive to actually throw the ball into the strike zone within reach of the batter. The theory is that if the ball is thrown more often within reach of the batter, then the ball will be hit more often, and therefore put into play more frequently, making for a more exciting game. However, although this gives the pitcher the incentive to throw the ball in or near the strike zone, the reality is that this actually gives the batter an incentive to not swing the bat, and therefore not put the ball into play. Getting on base is actually very difficult in baseball, and so if a pitcher is going to throw enough bad pitches, why not just watch them go by and take a free walk to first?

In Twenty-First Century Townball, there are no balls and there are no walks. The pitcher can throw as many pitches outside the reach of the batter as he wishes.

What, then, is the incentive for a pitcher to throw the ball into the hitting zone?

None, except that not doing so will increase the pitcher’s pitch count. This becomes a critical issue for a game in which there is an indefinite number of innings per game as well as no player substitutions allowed.

Third: The Existence of an Inning Limit.

One of the worst ideas in the creation of the New York style of play is the idea of an inning limit for the game. From one standpoint, it makes sense why it was invented. It makes for a convenient “time-limit” to the game that is fair to both parties. However, the idea of an inning limit in the game of baseball is a bad idea for several reasons.

First, it isn’t a very intuitive thing to keep track of as a player or as a fan. Think about it. How many times have you attended a ball game with someone who didn’t realize the game just ended when it did?

Contrast this with the Massachusetts version where a team needs to score a certain number of runs to win. Everyone is constantly aware of the score because the score determines the end.

Secondly, in a game where there is an inning limit, like in the New York version, it is easy to lose hope when the outlook isn’t so brilliant for your team when they are down by say four runs going into the eighth inning.

Of course there is always the hope that springs eternal of your team rallying for a comeback. But that hope is so much less misplaced in a game where being down by four runs just as the pitchers are beginning to tire allows for so many more possibilities. This is because in Twenty-First Century Townball, there is no inning limit for the game. The game continues to be played until a team either reaches thirteen runs, or is ahead of the other team by five runs after having scored at least eight.

For this reason, no one really knows how long the game is going to be. It could last from one inning (our shortest game) to sixty-three (our longest).

For example, let’s take the worst case scenario. Suppose in a Twenty-First Century Townball your team is down 7-0. In that case, your opponent only needs one run to win the game. But if you have a defense that can hold out long enough, as long as the other team does not score that final run, they cannot win. Then once your team scores just 4 runs, you are back in the game. The opposition now needs two runs to win instead of just one. Suddenly the outlook is brilliant indeed.

Thirdly, one of the most cherished events in baseball is the walk-off hit. Think Kirk Gibson or Carlton Fisk, each with a game winning home run in the World Series. This actually doesn’t happen very often in baseball because of how the game is structured. In contrast, because of how the Massachusetts style of play works, exactly half of all Twenty-First Century townball games played are won with either walk-off hits or some kind of walk-off scoring. What an exciting game indeed!

And lastly, as mentioned earlier, the lack of an inning limit serves as an incentive for the pitcher to throw the ball into the hitting zone of the batter.

Typically, we have found the average game to be just under two hours. But with the length of game being so variable, the pitchers now have an incentive to throw the ball either at the zone, or within reach of the batter because if a pitcher throws a ball outside the zone, and the batter does not swing, then he has just risen his pitch count by one. With a good pitcher’s pitch count average being right around 100 pitches, it is the need to keep one’s pitch count low that is the needed incentive to throw the ball within reach of the batter.

Fourth: The Lack of Being Able to “Steal” First Base

Although not in the original Massachusetts style of play, we believe that allowing for a batter to attempt to run to first, even without the ball having been batted, makes for a very exciting game. Once the first pitch is made to a batter, the ball is in play for the rest of that at-bat. A pitcher who, even for an instant, takes his eye off a batter that he is facing, may soon find that the player he was about to pitch to is on base!

If you were to sit down and calculate how much time the ball is actually in play in an average baseball game, I think you will find that for the hours it takes to play the game, the ball is only in play for a few minutes. Contrast this with Twenty-First Century Townball where the ball is, after the first pitch of the inning, always, in play. In such a game, the thinking aspect abounds, the hidden ball trick is the norm.