(Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
This right here is sure to make Baseball purists go absolutely nuts.
Major League Baseball is all set to implement a bunch of rules over the course of the next two years, but if San Francisco Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija had his way, they would also be doing away with extra innings and allowing games to end in a tie.
Not only that, he takes it a step further and wants the league to implement a point system similar to the Premier League, according to Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News.
“I don’t think we need to play extra-inning games,” Samardzija said. “We want to keep the game times down. End them in a tie, everyone gets one point like the Premier League. A win gets three points. Just end it at nine. We’re playing 162 games. Over that course of games, you should be able to tell who the best team is. That makes the ninth inning exciting all the time.
“And really, who wants to go out there and play 15 innings? The relievers don’t want it. The position players don’t want it. The managers don’t want it.”
During the 2018 season, the Giants played in 21 extra-inning games, which is more than any other team, going 11-10 in the process.
Improving pace of play has long been part of commissioner Rob Manfred’s mandate, but I highly doubt the league would ever do away with extras and genuinely be okay with tie games.
