The MLBPA has agreed to a demand by MLB owners that they be permitted to give 45 days notice to unilaterally end defensive shifts, implement a pitch clock and install larger bases.
Currently, the owners must give the players a full year's notice. So theoretically changes in these areas could be made during the course of a season.
The best I can say is baseball is so full of shift.
It's bad enough that baseball put runners on second base who have not earned their way there during extra inning games, but now the owners want to micromanage the game.
The best way for baseball to reduce its dependency on shifts is for players to hit to the opposite field or to bunt. If shifts are banned then what constitutes a shift. OK, so they don't want the third baseman on the right side of the infield. But does this mean a second baseman can't move four steps to his left?
The Gary Sheffield, Jr's of the world love this idea because he believes modern players aren't equipped to go the other way or bunt. If that is the case then it is a failure both of imagination and preparation. I remember when the Minnesota Twins would teach everyone who came through their organization how to bunt including David Ortiz who would deploy this skill from time to time. But then a few years ago, the Twins got upset when Baltimore Orioles catcher Chance Sisco laid down a bunt down 7-0 in the 9th inning.
Hall of Famer Eddie Murray often said baseball was a game of adjustments. The fact that players cannot adjust and adapt and now must leave it to the owners to dictate how they play the game only further diminishes my affection for a game I once loved.
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