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I don’t know what the fuck is going on in the world of sports anymore.
Seriously, even after watching thousands of games in my lifetime, questioning some of the rules and formats that different sports have, I still get confused every once in awhile when something new gets adopted.
From Mark Cuban proposing a 20-team NBA playoff format, to Major League Baseball imposing a pace-of-play rule, to, finally, the NFL actually toying with the idea of narrowing their goal posts—which they used in this past Pro Bowl—it seems that league’s are doing everything they possibly can to keep the interests of fans, while progressing beyond what has always been known.
And while I typically think that a lot of the ideas are just straight-up shit, one that is rad as hell came from this year’s Double-A All-Star Game, where a tie game wasn’t just decided by the usual extra innings that the sport of baseball has always used.
That’s because the Eastern League believed that a Home Run Derby Shootout would be the most fun and interesting way for the winner to be crowned, as both managers selected three players from their teams to take part, with each batter getting one swing to try and jack a homer—and the team with the most dingers wins.
As you might imagine, it took some time for a homer to come off of the bat—as the thing moved to 11 rounds and sudden death—but wouldn’t fans have rather watched this than sitting through countless innings of boredom?
It seemed that the idea was well-received by the players, too, as Reading Fightin’ Phils outfielder Brian Pointer, who hit the game-winning blast, told Craig Forde of MiLB.com, “That was just pretty awesome. Just to see it go out, ending this whole thing with a little bit of a saga at the end, I’m pretty much speechless right now. I’m just happy that we won it and happy to walk it off.”
After a fucking incredible MLB Home Run Derby that has been touted as the most dramatic ever seen, it might be time to wipe out that whole extra innings shit and bring a Home Run Derby Shootout to the sport permanently to keep that excitement.
Hell, it’s definitely better than some of these other rule changes some of these sports have been throwing around.
[H/T Bleacher Report]