My baseball buddy was back on the east coast for the past couple of weeks. I’ve been a Braves fan since 1977, and I try to get to one Braves’ game at Nationals’ Park each year.
When I buy the tickets, I usually spend on Diamond Club seats on Stub Hub. These seats are all-inclusive for unlimited food and drink. Meg will usually buy seats behind the dugouts. With the extra spent on food and drink, the two options net out to be the same.
The Braves won’t be back in town until August, and Meg is only around for a couple of weeks. She had tickets for the game on June 10 with San Francisco, which was postponed 30 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. We were both available for the game this past Saturday night against the Mets, working our two schedules.
Washington and the Mets were scheduled to play a doubleheader that day. The first game was a make-up of the April 1 game postponed because of a COVID issue within the Nationals’ personnel.
Starting in 2020, MLB instituted seven-inning games in doubleheaders. This rule was to reduce the wear on pitching.
Even though the Nationals have not sold many season tickets, they sold the doubleheader as a split admission, meaning to see both games, a person would need to pay for each game. So, for a full fare ticket, we only got to see seven-ninths of a game. Shouldn’t they give us a 22% discount?
MLB should require nine-inning games on split admission doubleheaders and allow seven-inning games on a single admission event.
You say that we don’t have to pay extra when the game goes to extra innings. That’s why we call it “Free Baseball.”
The teams finished the first game around 3:45 pm. The Nationals had to clear the stadium. Usually, the gates open 90 minutes before the first pitch. But the gates did not open until 5:05 pm for a 6:05 pm start. This time between games did help the bars on Half Street,
This game was my first post-COVID in-person experience. Stadium workers wore masks, and most fans did not. Most of the concession stands inside the park required to order online and pay and then pick up. I’m old and like the cash method of paying. There did not appear to be as many food options available online. I got a hot dog for $6.40, and Meg got some fries. 25 oz cans of beer were $10.50. In 2019, 16 oz bottles were $9. They must be trying to get us drunk.
It started to drizzle. So, we walked under the concourse and ate at one of the stand up tables. We did notice that there were concession stands with full fare, waiting lines, and cash registers. There were a few beer hawkers taking cash and credit cards.
About 10 minutes before the first pitch, a singer did a fantastic job with the national anthem. It had stopped raining, and we quickly got to our seats. The stadium crew did a good cleaning in the hour between games, though there was some slimy stuff on Meg’s armrest.
The game went well, and the weather cooperated. Abe won the Presidents’ Race. There was a fifth-inning stretch, and beer sales stopped at the end of the sixth inning. With the new nets to protect the fans, the ball was hard to pick up off the bat. We may have to move a few rows back to see if this changes.
Some people want to institute change to create more action and speed up the game. There is a trend where players are either hitting home runs or striking out. With my stats from Little League, my ratio of strikeouts to home runs is similar to a current major league player. And, a couple of weeks ago, Pittsburgh pulled a bone head fielding play that we learned not to do in Little League. I guess I was ahead of the times.
If the shift is an issue, maybe we need to put Xs in the field where each player must stand until the ball is pitched. If the speed of play is an issue, we could go to a one-pitch per plate appearance, a ball is a walk, a strike is an out, and two foul balls is an out. We could be out of there in an hour.
Change is hard. One change that I’m glad to accept is the new rule governing Free Baseball innings. During the regular season, each team is given a free runner on second base at the start of an inning. The intent is to minimize the number of innings to break the tie to reduce wear on pitchers. It makes teams execute fundamental plays, such as sacrifice bunts and flies, squeeze plays, stolen bases and hit and run, rather than waiting for a player to hit a home run. Managers need to think about the options to win, including intentional walks and five-man infields.
On Monday, June 21, 2021, a change instituted is that umpires need to enforce the foreign substances on pitched ball violations, randomly or on an opposing manager’s request inspecting pitchers.
Foreign substances on pitched balls have been illegal since I first picked up a ball in the 1950s. Spit made balls slick, which made pitches dance. Now, spider tack helps pitchers get a better grip to increase their spin rates, making pitches dance. Both are foreign substances.
I learned how to throw a knuckleball that dances without a foreign substance.
Listening to the announcers on Monday’s game between the Dodgers and Padres, they discussed how MLB was unfair in changing the rule in the middle of the season. Due to the change, Julio Urias was having difficulty throwing pitches for strikes.
I didn’t think MLB changed the rule, only that the league was enforcing an existing rule.
Unless Urias was already breaking an existing rule, the new procedures should not be an issue.
Urias pitched well against the Braves in the 2020 NLCS. I’d say he was the deciding factor in the series. Is this another cheating scandal to add to the Astros garbage can lid banging?