7 ms·

If only the Yankees get access to it (e.g. they patented it and won't let other teams use it) then I could see it as an unfair advantage. In most other areas of

If only the Yankees get access to it (e.g. they patented it and won't let other teams use it) then I could see it as an unfair advantage. In most other areas of America life, though, this innovation would be allowed or even celebrated. I imagine it will go the way of the brilliant strategic innovation a few years back of shifting defenders heavily depending on the batter's statistical hitting patterns. It'll get banned because it makes the game more boring. If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. I imagine it's quite expensive or impossible to shift the outfield walls back farther in most MLB stadiums. I actually would love more of a no holds barred evolutionary battle in the MLB [1] but I know it's not gonna happen. [1] https://youtu.be/gTmLz9B8wls https://youtu.be/gTmLz9B8wls

MajimasEyepatch 2y ago
There are already other teams using these bats, and it seems like they will spread pretty quickly: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6243085/2025/03/31/mlb-torpedo-bats-players-intrigued/ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6243085/2025/03/31/mlb-torp... I don't know why anyone would be upset about this, but baseball fans tend to be curmudgeons.
- metadat 2y ago
  https://archive.today/R20Kz https://archive.today/R20Kz
perlgeek 2y ago
> If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. So you're saying baseball gets more boring when people get better hitting the ball? Sounds like there's something fundamentally wrong with the sport.
- conductr 2y ago
  So long as it's not a one sided advantage, the game will be fair and way more exciting. Even now, there's a huge difference in attending, and watching on TV, a game that is 1-0 going into the 9th inning versus a game that is 5-4 going into the 9th. Even though those are even matches at that point in the game, one of them feels painful the other has had some excitement. Good defense is not as exciting as productive offense.
- alabastervlog 2y ago
  That doesn't follow at all. Imagine if, somehow, soccer players got really good at scoring goals from midfield, such that a very high proportion of goals were scored after just two touches. That's exciting or interesting for, like... one game, then it's worse than before. Are you there to watch people score goals, or to watch people play the game? If there's a home-run more at-bats than not, they get boring. You do want plenty of solid hits (but you also want strike-outs! And walks! And bunts! You want diversity!) but you don't want a lot of them to be homers. A home run is only exciting if it's uncommon, otherwise it's less interesting than most other things that can happen when the ball's hit into fair territory.
20wenty 2y ago
If it gives any unfair advantage at all, the Astros will figure out a way to use them ASAP. ([1,2] For those that don't get the snide reference to cheating.) [1] https://www.nytimes.com/article/astros-cheating.html https://www.nytimes.com/article/astros-cheating.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Astros_sign_stealing_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Astros_sign_stealing_s...
- dbg31415 2y ago
  Ohhh I get it now — the joke is that the Astros are crooks. Like, actual cheaters who got away with it. Hilarious stuff. Classic. (= But seriously, they stole a World Series and faced zero real consequences. It’s like watching a gang of bank robbers walk free because the judge thought, “Well, gosh, they seemed like nice young men.” Imagine if John Wilkes Booth had been caught, and the government just said, “Eh, let’s move on. No hard feelings.” That’s the Astros. MLB gave them a juice box and a pat on the head. Total joke. Crooks.
  - wileydragonfly 2y ago
    And then they won it again. Cope.
fasthands9 2y ago
Aluminum bats are better than wooden bats. You need arbitrary rules on technology for sporting equipment. I have no strong feelings on these bats, but there are concerns other than just fairness from one team to the next.
fishpen0 2y ago
This has the potential to multiply the issues with Fenway and other older fields dramatically.
happyopossum 2y ago
> If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. TV ratings show otherwise - in every instance so far, HRs put butts in seats, and defense makes people change the channel. TV and ballpark analytics show this to be true. The common thought is that's why the league ignored abuse during the steroid era so much. edit - This is also the driving force behind multiple 'juiced ball' conspiracy theories.
- lesuorac 2y ago
  Title of the url says it all: https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1e5mwbs/mlb_home_run_derby_draws_lowest_audience_since/ https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1e5mwbs/mlb_home_... It's not about watching home runs; it's mostly about watching a competitive game.
- kaycebasques 2y ago
  For sure, that makes a lot of intuitive sense. I was thinking that there's a sweet spot with HRs. If it gets too common then it may be less of a dopamine hit. Kinda like how the randomness of slot machines is fine-tuned to maximize addictive potential. However, one could argue the same thing about Curry and 3 pointers. My original argument suggests that seeing someone makes loads more 3 pointers would be boring. Yet it was very exciting to see him smash through previously unthinkable records. On the other hand, that was not driven by technological change…
  - philwelch 2y ago
    3 pointers are actually the opposite problem; they turn out to be more efficient but they make the game a lot more boring to watch.
    - bsder 2y ago
      > they make the game a lot more boring to watch. I disagree. Go watch some of the old games before 3 pointers. Teams would pack the defense into the key and the game would get really boring. It was also brutal--driving to the bucket on a packed defense like that would get you mugged. 3 pointers force defenses to move outward. Illegal defense penalties also helped.
toast0 2y ago
Or we could just let the robots play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqB6rY94DCw&t=55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqB6rY94DCw&t=55s (and football too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=818agkUTpqM&t=69s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=818agkUTpqM&t=69s
SkyPuncher 2y ago
If only the Yankees get access to this, the rest of the league will simply vote to outlaw it. You see something similar going on in football, right now, with a play known as the "tush push". It's not a particularly complex play, but for some reason the Philadelphia Eagles can pull it off astoundingly better than anyone else in the league. In response, several teams are petitioning rules to outlaw it. All it takes is enough teams to vote for banning this play and it's gone.
- cool_dude85 2y ago
  One additional wrinkle to the tush push is that it WAS illegal until the mid-2000s. Sort of like the 3 point line in basketball, it has taken many years for a team to take advantage of the new rule to its fullest extent. I think people generally take the perspective of "it used to be illegal, so it's reasonable to make it illegal again" in a way they don't when a team is just doing something new.
  - VWWHFSfQ 2y ago
    It's like when people started to freak out about the "pitch clock" and how it was ruining baseball. The thing is, the pitch clock _always_ existed in the rulebook, it was just never enforced due to lack of technology and just generally never really being a problem. And then pitchers started taking 1 minute+ to throw a dang pitch and it was ruining the flow of the game. So they started enforcing it.
- magicalhippo 2y ago
  > You see something similar going on in football, right now, with a play known as the "tush push". As a European that just woke up from a nap, I was having a very hard time imagning a soccer move called "tush push" that was so successful it had to be outlawed...
  - gus_massa 2y ago
    My small daughter is watching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tsubasa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tsubasa , and I think I saw something like that in one episode.
zem 2y ago
how do you ban shifting defenders? i admittedly know nothing about baseball, but surely the team can dispatch its people wherever it likes within the legal zone for them to be at all.
- DrFalkyn 2y ago
  When there was a left handed pull hitter at at the plate, the third baseman would move to where the shortstop was, the shortstop would move to second base, and the second baseman would be on shallow right field. Third base was left completely undefended. I always wondered why hitters couldn’t just practice a late swing and send a chopper down the third base line … The new rule says there has to be two infielders on either side of of second base when the pitcher delivers They still shift just not as much
- ranger207 2y ago
  Before the shift ban, there could be 3 players on one side of 2nd base. The rule now is that there have to be two fielders on either side on 2nd when the pitch is delivered. Essentially, they changed the legal zone

MajimasEyepatch 2y ago

There are already other teams using these bats, and it seems like they will spread pretty quickly: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6243085/2025/03/31/mlb-torpedo-bats-players-intrigued/ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6243085/2025/03/31/mlb-torp... I don't know why anyone would be upset about this, but baseball fans tend to be curmudgeons.

metadat 2y ago
https://archive.today/R20Kz https://archive.today/R20Kz

perlgeek 2y ago

> If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. So you're saying baseball gets more boring when people get better hitting the ball? Sounds like there's something fundamentally wrong with the sport.

conductr 2y ago
So long as it's not a one sided advantage, the game will be fair and way more exciting. Even now, there's a huge difference in attending, and watching on TV, a game that is 1-0 going into the 9th inning versus a game that is 5-4 going into the 9th. Even though those are even matches at that point in the game, one of them feels painful the other has had some excitement. Good defense is not as exciting as productive offense.
alabastervlog 2y ago
That doesn't follow at all. Imagine if, somehow, soccer players got really good at scoring goals from midfield, such that a very high proportion of goals were scored after just two touches. That's exciting or interesting for, like... one game, then it's worse than before. Are you there to watch people score goals, or to watch people play the game? If there's a home-run more at-bats than not, they get boring. You do want plenty of solid hits (but you also want strike-outs! And walks! And bunts! You want diversity!) but you don't want a lot of them to be homers. A home run is only exciting if it's uncommon, otherwise it's less interesting than most other things that can happen when the ball's hit into fair territory.

20wenty 2y ago

If it gives any unfair advantage at all, the Astros will figure out a way to use them ASAP. ([1,2] For those that don't get the snide reference to cheating.) [1] https://www.nytimes.com/article/astros-cheating.html https://www.nytimes.com/article/astros-cheating.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Astros_sign_stealing_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Astros_sign_stealing_s...

dbg31415 2y ago
Ohhh I get it now — the joke is that the Astros are crooks. Like, actual cheaters who got away with it. Hilarious stuff. Classic. (= But seriously, they stole a World Series and faced zero real consequences. It’s like watching a gang of bank robbers walk free because the judge thought, “Well, gosh, they seemed like nice young men.” Imagine if John Wilkes Booth had been caught, and the government just said, “Eh, let’s move on. No hard feelings.” That’s the Astros. MLB gave them a juice box and a pat on the head. Total joke. Crooks.
- wileydragonfly 2y ago
  And then they won it again. Cope.

fasthands9 2y ago

Aluminum bats are better than wooden bats. You need arbitrary rules on technology for sporting equipment. I have no strong feelings on these bats, but there are concerns other than just fairness from one team to the next.

fishpen0 2y ago

This has the potential to multiply the issues with Fenway and other older fields dramatically.

happyopossum 2y ago

> If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. TV ratings show otherwise - in every instance so far, HRs put butts in seats, and defense makes people change the channel. TV and ballpark analytics show this to be true. The common thought is that's why the league ignored abuse during the steroid era so much. edit - This is also the driving force behind multiple 'juiced ball' conspiracy theories.

lesuorac 2y ago
Title of the url says it all: https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1e5mwbs/mlb_home_run_derby_draws_lowest_audience_since/ https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1e5mwbs/mlb_home_... It's not about watching home runs; it's mostly about watching a competitive game.
kaycebasques 2y ago
For sure, that makes a lot of intuitive sense. I was thinking that there's a sweet spot with HRs. If it gets too common then it may be less of a dopamine hit. Kinda like how the randomness of slot machines is fine-tuned to maximize addictive potential. However, one could argue the same thing about Curry and 3 pointers. My original argument suggests that seeing someone makes loads more 3 pointers would be boring. Yet it was very exciting to see him smash through previously unthinkable records. On the other hand, that was not driven by technological change…
- philwelch 2y ago
  3 pointers are actually the opposite problem; they turn out to be more efficient but they make the game a lot more boring to watch.
  - bsder 2y ago
    > they make the game a lot more boring to watch. I disagree. Go watch some of the old games before 3 pointers. Teams would pack the defense into the key and the game would get really boring. It was also brutal--driving to the bucket on a packed defense like that would get you mugged. 3 pointers force defenses to move outward. Illegal defense penalties also helped.

toast0 2y ago

Or we could just let the robots play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqB6rY94DCw&t=55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqB6rY94DCw&t=55s (and football too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=818agkUTpqM&t=69s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=818agkUTpqM&t=69s

SkyPuncher 2y ago

If only the Yankees get access to this, the rest of the league will simply vote to outlaw it. You see something similar going on in football, right now, with a play known as the "tush push". It's not a particularly complex play, but for some reason the Philadelphia Eagles can pull it off astoundingly better than anyone else in the league. In response, several teams are petitioning rules to outlaw it. All it takes is enough teams to vote for banning this play and it's gone.

cool_dude85 2y ago
One additional wrinkle to the tush push is that it WAS illegal until the mid-2000s. Sort of like the 3 point line in basketball, it has taken many years for a team to take advantage of the new rule to its fullest extent. I think people generally take the perspective of "it used to be illegal, so it's reasonable to make it illegal again" in a way they don't when a team is just doing something new.
- VWWHFSfQ 2y ago
  It's like when people started to freak out about the "pitch clock" and how it was ruining baseball. The thing is, the pitch clock _always_ existed in the rulebook, it was just never enforced due to lack of technology and just generally never really being a problem. And then pitchers started taking 1 minute+ to throw a dang pitch and it was ruining the flow of the game. So they started enforcing it.
magicalhippo 2y ago
> You see something similar going on in football, right now, with a play known as the "tush push". As a European that just woke up from a nap, I was having a very hard time imagning a soccer move called "tush push" that was so successful it had to be outlawed...
- gus_massa 2y ago
  My small daughter is watching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tsubasa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tsubasa , and I think I saw something like that in one episode.

zem 2y ago

how do you ban shifting defenders? i admittedly know nothing about baseball, but surely the team can dispatch its people wherever it likes within the legal zone for them to be at all.

DrFalkyn 2y ago
When there was a left handed pull hitter at at the plate, the third baseman would move to where the shortstop was, the shortstop would move to second base, and the second baseman would be on shallow right field. Third base was left completely undefended. I always wondered why hitters couldn’t just practice a late swing and send a chopper down the third base line … The new rule says there has to be two infielders on either side of of second base when the pitcher delivers They still shift just not as much
ranger207 2y ago
Before the shift ban, there could be 3 players on one side of 2nd base. The rule now is that there have to be two fielders on either side on 2nd when the pitch is delivered. Essentially, they changed the legal zone