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| Sergio Romo and the Tampa Bay Rays may have started baseball's next big trend. They must be stopped. |
The Tampa Bay Rays may have very well kickstarted baseball's next revolution. On May 24th, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that relief pitchers would start their series against the Baltimore Orioles. This strategy, which has been pushed heavily by MLB Network host Brian Kenny is called 'bullpenning'. It would involve a pitcher called the 'Opener' to start the first inning of a game. The game's starter then comes in and pitches innings 2-6 (or 7) and then relief pitchers take over the remainder game. I won't lie, bullpenning is a genius strategy. However, I hope it goes the way of the dodo before it has a chance to really take root. Bullpenning is a symptom of what's bad for the game.
I should note before I make my argument that I am not some baseball traditionalist that is resistant to any change. I am in favor of doing away with the win-loss record for pitchers, I am for the designated hitter being used in the National League, I am for extended netting around the foul lines of the field, I am for the use of instant replay, and I am for computers calling balls and strikes as soon as the technology is there. These reforms (with the exception of the DH in the National League) to the game have either improved the way baseball has been officiated or has improved fan safety. They haven't really changed how baseball is fundamentally played.
Bullpenning on the other hand would radically change how baseball is played. It is also an outgrowth of a major problem that is plaguing baseball: The over-reliance on relief pitchers.
Many teams in today's game have eight men in the bullpen and that number gets higher once you count guys that come up from the minors for a cup of coffee. It's become increasingly common for managers to use three pitchers just to record three outs in an inning. The 2017 Postseason could be utterly unbearable to watch because starters were frequently chased out of the game early and an endless amount of relief pitchers were paraded in.
Limiting the amount of pitchers used in a game would help solve the issues of there being too many strikeouts and not enough offense. Offense has plummeted and strikeouts are up because nearly every pitcher that is active throws 95 miles per hour and above. Hitters also share the blame for this trend (but that's an article for a different time). The sheer amount of pitchers that throw at a high velocity have smothered offense to the point where strikeouts have now eclipsed hits for the first time in Major League history. There's even a name for this phenomenon. It's called Baseball’s Three True Outcomes, which means that more than a third of all plate appearances end in a walk, a strikeout, or a home run. People won't watch a game where nothing exciting happens. If we limit the amount of relief pitchers that can be used in a game, maybe starting pitchers will dial their velocity back slightly when they realize that that they are expected to go beyond the fifth inning. Relievers would also dial back on their velocity when they realize that they need to face more than one batter a game. Offense very well may increase if pitcher stop throwing as hard in order to go deeper into games. Pace of play would also be greatly improved because you won't have constant pitching changes which delays the game. I'm not advocating that we go back to the era where starting pitchers threw 300 innings, but starters should be held to a higher standard than they have been in recent years.
Bullpenning is a genius strategy that is in its infancy, but once a trend takes hold in baseball it becomes almost impossible to stop which why it must be stopped now. Bullpenning will cause new and casual baseball fans to be driven away. What attracts the new and casual fans is offense and you can't attract new and casual fans when there is no offense to be found.
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