Prior to Tuesday’s All-Star Game and just down the street from Coors Field at the Bellco Theatre in Denver, the 2021 MLB Draft was being held, during which MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the media over a variety of topics. Among them were several of the controversial rule changes he imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although COVID-19 is still with us, widespread vaccinations have allowed us to begin getting back to normal, although complete normalcy will likely never happen … just ask anyone who lost a loved one to the deadly virus.

Among the topics that Manfred said could return to normal (if you will) are the extra-inning rule in which a runner is automatically placed on second base to begin each half of every extra-inning game (as part of Manfred’s well-documented desire to speed up the ‘pace of play’) and his seven-inning doubleheader rule.

“I see the extra-inning rule and the seven-inning doubleheader as rules that were adopted based on medical advice to deal with COVID,” Manfred told reporters. “I think they are much less likely to become part of our permanent landscape than some of the other rules that we’ve talked about over time that relate to how the game is being played.”

Among “some of the other rules that we’ve talked about” include banning the shift, which Manfred believes would be supported by front offices around the league.

“Let’s just say you’ve regulated the shift by requiring two infielders on each side and second base. What does that do?” Manfred asked rhetorically. “It makes the game look like what it looked like when I was 12 years old. It’s not change; it’s kind of restoration, right?

“I think front offices in general believe it would have a positive effect on the play of the game. I’m hopeful, without going into the specifics of rule by rule, that we will have productive conversations with the MLBPA about, let me use my words, ‘non-radical changes to the game that will restore it to being played in a way that is closer to what many of us enjoyed historically.’”

…kind of like it was before he became the 10th Commissioner of Baseball on January 25, 2015.

In his defense, Manfred had a huge escape clause to justify several of his less-than-popular rule changes – the pandemic.

“At the point in time we adopted seven-inning doubleheaders for this year, we didn’t know that the country was going to look like it looks right now,” he said. “As a matter of fact, we were really scared that it was going to look very, very differently. If I knew it was going to be like this, might we have done different rules? Maybe.”

During the media Q and A session, Manfred was also asked about the possibility of the National League permanently adopting the designated hitter, as it did during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

“I think it would be a non-radical change, but I’m not going to speculate on whether we’re going to propose it or get it,” he answered.

On the other side of the table (again, so to speak) is Tony Clark, president of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

“We look forward to sitting down with the players and asking them for their thoughts,” Clark told reporters. “Those considerations are against the backdrop of the unique circumstances by which the season is being played. Our hope is there will be more of a sense of normalcy next year, so we’ll have that discussion, I’m sure.”

The current MLB-MLBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on December 1. Hopefully, a new CBA will be in place before teams report for Spring Training in Arizona and Florida in February 2022.

If not, they very well might not be reporting for Spring Training in Arizona and Florida in February 2022.

Play Ball!

…please?

  *  *  *  *  *  *