For the second time in as many games, the Dodgers have gone into extra innings, which, of course, means they have had to utilize the new COVID-19-induced automatic-runner-on-second-base rule; the sixth time they have had to do so in the 44 regular-season games they have played thus far.

The good news is that the Dodgers won five of those six extra-inning games.

The bad news, at least for the (seemingly) majority of Dodger fans who do not like the new rule, is that the (seemingly) majority of players do like it, which, of course, means that it could be on the table in the next collective bargaining agreement set to happen at the conclusion of the 2021 season.

But not everyone wearing Dodger Blue likes it.

“It’s not real baseball, but it’s fine for this year,” said Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, following his sixth start of the 60-game 2020 season on Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. “I hope we never do it again.”

As you might imagine, Kershaw’s opinion of the rule is shared by a good many old-school baseball fans.

But Kershaw appears to be in the minority among his teammates and even more so his manager.

“I was a proponent initially going in, I really didn’t know how it was going to play out and how it was going to be received, but as we’ve kind of had some runs with this, I really like it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said following his team’s 6-4 win on Wednesday night. “I think it does shorten the game, it adds to the strategy for the fans, for the managers, the players, and I think it’s playing out pretty well. I think our guys have really done a good job in that situation.”

It is certainly understandable that managers would favor the rule if for no other reason than it saves their bullpen arms should extra innings go more than an inning or two – and make no mistake about it, the Dodgers have relied heavily on their bullpen all season long. In fact, Dodgers starters have averaged only 4.2 innings per start thus far through the COVID-19-shortened season, with only 16 regular-season games remaining.

But not all veteran players, especially everyday position players, share in Kershaw’s opinion. Thirty-two-year-old / nine-year MLB veteran outfielder AJ Pollock, who is currently sporting a team third-best .290 batting average, sees the upside to the extra-inning / runner-on-second rule.

“I don’t know why they did it. I think that for this year, it was kind of a shortened season,” Pollock answered when asked about it. “My feeling was if you have a long, long extra-inning game and you don’t have any off-days, and maybe you can avoid the four and five-hour games, I’m okay with it. If you’re saying it’s going to happen and we’re going to do that all the time, I don’t know.

“There’s upsides, there’s positives,” Pollock added. “It’s tough when you play a five-hour game, maybe it’s a getaway day, and you’re getting in at three, four o’clock in the morning, and you’ve got to keep playing two weeks without [an off-day], it’s just kind of a different kind of thing that we never … didn’t really feel like anything we’ve ever done.”

The new rule did, however, put Dodgers rookie utility infielder Edwin Rios in the MLB record books forever.

Back on July 29, Rios came to bat as a pinch-hitter in the top of the 13th inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park and slugged MLB’s first-ever leadoff two-run home run, so there’s that.

Whether you are in favor of the extra-inning / runner on second rule or not, it figures to be a hot topic this off-season and most certainly next off-season, when MLB and the MLB Players Association sit down to work out a new collective bargaining agreement.

Stay Tuned…

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