Mercy Rule?
Should we call blowouts prematurely?
Mercy Rule?
A few months ago, this post on APBA Between the Lines caught my attention:
I purposely edited out the name of the poster for privacy reasons — and, no, I won’t link to the old thread. Those of you who visit that forum frequently know who it is. But the poster’s identity really isn’t important.
It’s an interesting idea. I’m not in favor of it, but I will say that it is interesting.
And, well, I happened to have two 1949 games in a row that made this idea seem extremely relevant.
Washington’s Offense
I get in arguments with people about baseball all the time.
We argue about everything: sabermetrics, adjustments for fielders, Rfield, expected statistics based on velocity, pitch counts, you name it.
But there’s one thing we can all agree on: the 1949 Washington Senators were really bad at hitting.
The Senators scored a grand total of 584 runs in a league that averaged 722. Their 81 home runs were ahead of only the hitless Chicago White Sox — and, even then, the White Sox managed a team OPS+ rating of 87 compared to Washington’s 84.
Knowing all that, can you explain this boxscore?
I can’t. I mean, I simply can’t.
What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to let Virgil Trucks stay in there and get hammered? Nobody could get any of the Senators out that day.
I know the wind was blowing out to right — but it felt like it was only blowing out for one team. I suspect that Joe Kuhel bribed the breeze.
Brooklyn’s Awakening
I’ve been saying it over and over again: the Dodgers aren’t playing well enough, something is wrong with the game, yadda yadda yadda.
Well, how do the Dodgers look now?
Brooklyn absolutely demolished the league-leading Pirates. I mean, Pittsburgh looked absolutely sad in this one.
I know, I probably shouldn’t have kept Jack Banta in there. Honestly, though, before this game started I would have predicted that Jack would be the one giving up 9 runs in less than 3 innings. Don’t ask me what happened to Pittsburgh’s pitching staff.
Maybe the Dodgers are going to be okay after all.
Mercy?
Okay — now it’s question time.
What do you do when the game is an absolute route?
Now, I’m not going to stick on autoplay and forget about it. I’m sticking it out until the bitter end.
However, at what point do you bring in the subs? How long do you stick with pitchers?
Is 9 earned runs too much for a single guy? What about the reliever who gives up 8 before he finally has a turn at bat?
And should you let the winning team’s starting pitcher stay in there for 164 pitches and a complete game through all the madness? Is it better to conserve his arm (even in games in which that concept doesn’t exist), or is it better to save your bullpen for when it’s really needed?
I’d love to know what you think.