Baseball rule changes: Stealing one from the Savannah Bananas

Bear with me for a few paragraphs…

Have you heard of the Savannah Bananas? They are an exhibition team that has been barnstorming around the country with an exciting, fan-friendly breed of baseball. They started out as a struggling team in the Coastal Plain League, so owners Jesse and Emily Cole came up with a marketing strategy to bring in fans. The result was so overwhelming that they left the league and have gone out on their own, filling stadiums everywhere.

Advertisement

Last fall, I entered the lottery to get tickets – apparently, there is a waiting list of over 250,000 – and was lucky to land four for the opening game of their world tour in West Palm Beach on February 17. It was about as much fun as I’ve ever had in a sold-out ballpark.

Admittedly, it was all a performance, but it was great entertainment. In many ways, these are the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. However, most of the fan-friendly entertainment occurred before the first pitch was thrown. Once the game started, there were a few occasional acrobatics, but it was mostly “real” baseball, albeit with a bunch of wild, idiosyncratic rules.

  • Games are limited to two hours. (That’s no longer really necessary for “real” baseball.)
  • There is no stepping out of the batter’s box. (Okay, but probably a little overkill.)
  • There is no bunting. (Nah. )
  • There are no mound visits. (Our current limits are fine.)
  • Batters can steal first base. (On passed balls and wild pitches? Heck, why not?)
  • Foul balls caught by fans are outs. (Nope, nope, nope.)
  • Ties after nine innings are broken with a “showdown” – one pitcher (and catcher), one batter, one fielder. (I don’t like it, but the NHL seems to like their shootouts, so maybe?)

I was hoping to see all these rules in action. It was easy to notice that there was no bunting, mound visits or stepping out of the box. One batter attempted to steal first on a wild pitch and was safe easily. A half dozen foul balls cleared the high netting into the stands, but none were caught. Unfortunately, the full nine innings came in just under two hours, so I never got to see the extra innings showdown. In fact, the home Bananas came into the ninth down a couple of runs and pulled it out to exuberant cheers, which seemed obviously orchestrated, at least in part.

There is one more odd rule I haven’t mentioned because it has interesting implications. In Bananaball, there are no walks. When a pitcher throws Ball 4, the batter can take off to first base and reach as many bases as he can while the ball is thrown to all nine fielders. It’s a pretty wild idea, but as much as I would have loved to have seen that, I don’t think any pitcher even reached Ball 3. Pitchers were throwing carefully. Still, there were a bunch of strikeouts, and lots and lots of balls in play.

When you think about it, that rule is a pretty radical deterrent to walking batters. Again, Bananaball is an exhibition; at its core, it is a performance. But the idea of having a sufficient deterrent to walks is interesting.

Advertisement

One of the reasons the Major League game has changed over the past two decades has been the rise of power pitching. In 2002, there were five pitchers who averaged 95 mph on their fastballs (minimum 30 IP); in 2022, there were 150, with 40 of them starters. That has led to a spike in strikeouts, a decline in balls-in-play and an overall erosion of interesting offense. MLB’s 2023 rule changes have been intended to goose offense and reverse that trend, but their only nod to the real source of the problem – overpowering pitching – was some minor conversations about moving back the pitcher’s mound.

However, the rule changes that MLB did implement have set a dangerous precedent. Two recent rules, in particular, have altered the very fabric of the game. Defensive shift limitations and the extra inning ghost runner are rule changes that tinker with core elements of the game’s rulebook. Think about it:

  • The ghost runner awards a base without merit, something that is not done in any other aspect of play.
  • The shift requirement puts artificial restrictions on the defense, something that is not done in any other aspect of play.

If the game’s core elements are not sacrosanct, doesn’t that mean everything is up for grabs?

Well… right?

The fact is, it’s possible that some of the new rules would not have been necessary if they had made one other, different change. So how about the idea of making the base-on-balls more of a deterrent?

Right now, it’s four balls and the batter is awarded first base. If there are forced runners, they all get to move up a base too. It’s never good to put potential runs on base, but it is still a pretty innocuous penalty for throwing four balls out of the strike zone.

The Bananaball idea is probably way too radical to consider, but what if a walk put a runner on second base? Four pitches outside the zone would put a runner in scoring position. If that seems radical, well, we’re already doing that in extra innings without even one pitch being thrown.

Consider how each at-bat could play out with this new wrinkle. Early in an at-bat, pitchers could still bear down with power pitches to try to get ahead in the count. But with every ball they throw outside the zone, there will probably be more of a shift in their repertoire from power to precision. Yielding a walk would put a runner in scoring position – and move other runners up two bases – and that must be avoided. With every pitch closer to Ball 4, the pitcher would need to be more careful and work within the strike zone. How? Most likely, by throwing less hard.

Advertisement

Potentially, this could help keep pitchers healthier. There would be fewer streams of constant 98 mph heaters, especially from pitchers with any control issues. It should be easier to hit the zone with a 90 mph pitch, which provides some respite for an overworked arm. And there would be less recovery time needed between pitches, which would help with the pitch clock.

The current slate of new rules does little to increase the number of balls in play; they increase only the number of hit balls that put men on base and the potential for more baserunning once those men reach base. A greater focus on pitch precision puts more pitches in the strike zone and means more potential for batters to make contact. And really, that’s all I think we want – more balls in play. More chances for hits but also more chances to see great defensive plays. That’s exciting baseball. This idea would provide all of that, in a more natural way.

For those who think this is an absurd idea — well MLB has already shown that they are willing to muck around with the basic rules of the game. How is this any worse than putting a runner on second base who didn’t earn a chance to be on base at all?

(Top photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2tscW5pZnxzfJFsZmlrX2WFcL%2FAr5inppGdeqOtzZqlmqtdl660scGao6Vloqq5pnnCoZinn5WofA%3D%3D