The Ducks play in the Atlantic League. They’ve won three Atlantic League championships. In those three seasons, their combined winning percentage was .474. What kind of crazy league is this? The Atlantic League is noteworthy because it is an independent league, but this year they made a deal with Major League Baseball to try some experimental rules. Let’s go through the changes:
The one that’s gotten the most attention is the automated strike zone. The home plate umpire wears an earpiece that gives him the call. I’m totally fine with experimenting with that. I don’t know if I really trust it. Are they taking into account the height/stance of each player? Everybody’s strike zone is different. You watch Major League games on TV these days and they almost always show the strike zone on the screen. I trust it when it comes to whether or not it was over the plate, but I don’t usually trust it when it comes to whether it was high or low or not.
There are no more mound visits. For minor league baseball, that’s cool. But I think they definitely should be allowed in the Majors. They’ve limited them for the last two years and my guess is that they’ve gone way down during that time. And I’m good with that. But I definitely don’t think they should be completely done away with. One thing I would change is that you get a free mound visit when there’s a pinch hitter. I would do away with that. If you’re limiting mound visits, change the team for all mound visits.
Another change is already coming to the Majors next year: pitchers have to face a minimum of three batters or pitch until the end of the half inning. I don’t like it, but it’s already coming to the Majors. Whatever.
They made the bases bigger. I guess this is supposed to protect the fielders. It also makes the bases very slightly closer together. Whatever. I probably would just leave it the way it is, but if they changed it and didn’t say anything, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell.
Two infielders have to be on each side of second base. I like this one. I want them to encourage putting the ball in play. Making it easier to get hits on ground balls would do this.
They moved the mound back two feet. I don’t like this one at all. There are already too many home runs in baseball. This would just make it easier. And pitchers might try to put something more on their pitches since it’s going to be easier for the hitters and hurt themselves.
They shortened the time between innings. Even though I have an instinctive knowledge of when a baseball game is coming back from a commercial, I’m on board with this one.
The pitcher has to step off the rubber to attempt a pick off. This is meant to encourage stealing. I would like to see more stolen bases in the game, but I also don’t want it to be too easy to steal. Random note about stolen bases: if a player started his career this season and then stole an average of 50 bases per season, it would take him 29 seasons to break Rickey Henderson’s career record.
One foul bunt is permitted with two strikes before a strikeout. I don’t like this one. Sure, I’d like to see fewer strikeouts and more bunting, but this could mean longer plate appearances in bunting situations.
The check swing rule was supposedly made more batter-friendly. I don’t really know what that means. My concern is how would umpires adjust to that? A check swing happens so quickly and they’ve been trained to call it a certain way. Now they’d have to change what constitutes a swing. That seems like it would be pretty tough to adjust to that for the umpires.
And you can now run to first base on any pitch that isn’t caught by the catcher. This is just silly. I heard somebody say that it’s no more silly than being able to run when the catcher doesn’t catch the third strike. I disagree. There’s logic in that. To record an out, you have to control the baseball. The only exception to that is when a batted ball hits a baserunner who isn’t on base. And in that case, the ball is dead. If the ball is live, you have to control it to record an out. If you don’t have control of the ball on a third strike, the batter should be able to run as long as first base isn’t occupied.
Anyway, we got there a little early and checked out the ballpark. The food selection was nothing special. I had a hot dog that could have been better. The beer selection was good. There was plenty of local beer. I opted for a Sam Adams Summer Ale because I can easily get Long Island beer whenever I want it and this was probably going to be my last chance to have Summer Ale at a baseball game this season.
It was the Ducks against the High Point Rockers (from North Carolina). The Ducks took a 1-0 lead in the third inning and the score stayed that way for a while. But the Rockers tied it in the seventh and scored four runs in the eighth. T.J. Rivera hit a home run for the Ducks in eighth, but the Ducks couldn’t get any closer. The final score was 5-2. The Ducks flashed the lights on and off after the home run. I’ve seen pyrotechnics for home runs, but I’ve never seen a guy running around the bases in the dark. Rivera played a total of 106 games with the Mets in 2016 and 2017. He played 23 games with the Ducks this year. Two days after we saw him, he signed a minor league contract with the Nationals.
 |
| Our view for the game |
We didn’t see anything weird in the game with the experimental rules. Nobody tried to steal first base and nobody bunted foul with two strikes. It did seem like there was a little delay with the umpire getting the call on the automated strike zone. It seemed like there were a few times where the catcher reacted to the batter taking strike three before the call was even made. After the game, we saw fireworks, which were pretty good. It was August 2 so I guess the Ducks were celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Adam has moved to Pennsylvania so next year our minor league excursion might be for a game in Pennsylvania but that’s to be determined.
Attendance was 5,674 at Bethpage Ballpark. It was a good crowd. Capacity is 6,002. We were a section behind Congressman Peter King, who threw out the first pitch. I would definitely go to another Ducks game. Since this was my last minor league game of the season, it’s time to update my minor league stadium rankings:
22. Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton
21. Dehler Park in Billings
20. Arvest Ballpark in Springdale
19. Autozone Park in Memphis
18. TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey
17. Memorial Stadium in Boise
16. KeySpan Park in Brooklyn
15. Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo
14. Isotopes Park in Albuquerque
13. TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha
12. Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington
11. Greater Nevada Field in Reno
10. NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse
9. Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island
8. Dickey-Stephens Park in Little Rock
7. Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy
6. Bethpage Ballpark in Central Islip
5. Four Winds Field in South Bend
4. Frontier Field in Rochester
3. Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston
2. Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford
1. Regions Field in Birmingham
It’s harder to rank the minor league/college stadiums than the Major League stadiums. I feel pretty strongly about my Major League rankings. I’ve been to many of them more than once. Even if I haven’t been, I’ve seen them all many times on TV. I’ve been to each of these minor league stadium once. I haven’t included the Potomac Nationals’ stadium because I was there in 2003 and I don’t really remember it. I’ve been to all the other ones since 2014, which was kind of a long time ago. I’d try to divide my rankings into tiers. I feel good about my top three. They were all really good. The next tier would go from 4-11. They were all pretty good, but it’s hard for me to definitely say that Bethpage Ballpark was better than Greater Nevada Field or whatever. The next tier is probably 12-21. I can definitely say that Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton was my least favorite minor league stadium that I’ve been to in the last six years.
We’ll see what next year brings as far as minor league stadiums. I’d like to get to Pawtucket (I was hoping to get there this year, but it didn’t work out). I’m thinking Easter vacation or early summer for another trip out to Los Angeles. That could easily be combined with a stop somewhere for minor league baseball (Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, something along those lines). I’ve also thought about going out to NBA Summer League in Las Vegas next year. I’m definitely not solid on that, but if I did, that would be a good time to get to a minor league game there. And hopefully there will be a minor league game in Pennsylvania with Adam next year.
I’ll just finish up with some thoughts on the Dodgers. It’s been another really fun season. Hopefully it will finish with the Dodgers winning the final game of the World Series. Last night, they were down 2-0 against the Blue Jays going to the bottom of the ninth. Kenta Maeda had their only hit to that point. And I fully expected them to win. And then they did. This weekend they start a series with the Yankees. It’s the most common World Series matchup of all time and it could happen again this year. Unfortunately it’s Players Weekend and they’re wearing silly uniforms, much sillier than what they wore for Players Weekend the last two years. Jack Swarbrick would be proud. So unfortunately we don’t get to see the Dodgers and Yankees play each other in their classic uniforms. But it is a big series as it could determine home field advantage in the World Series. And college football starts tomorrow with Week 0. Notre Dame doesn’t play until Labor Day, but the good news is that either Florida or Miami will have a loss by the end of the day. For the next several months I’ll be scheduling my Mass attendance around football and baseball. The football tomorrow starts at 7:00, but the Dodgers and Yankees play at 4:00. I like to go to the vigil Mass when I can, but I’m not missing Dodgers-Yankees. So Sunday Mass it is. Go Irish! Go Dodgers!
No comments:
Post a Comment