MLB’s Joint Competition Committee approves new rules

The rule that saw a free runner placed on second base in extra innings last year will continue in 2023 and beyond, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Also, position players will only be allowed to pitch in extra innings, or in the ninth inning for a leading team that is up by ten or more runs or anytime for a trailing team that is down by eight or more. MLB’s Joint Competition Committee voted unanimously for both measures.

The automatic runner rule was first put in place in the 2020 season. Given the interrupted spring training and then the quick ramp-up to the shortened season, there were concerns about the unusual campaign leading to more injuries. The hope with the “ghost runner” was that it would decrease the likelihood of marathon games and therefore decrease player workloads and mitigate the chances of an injury popping up.

Though the change rankled many baseball purists, there’s little doubt that it was successful in accomplishing the goal of preventing exceptionally long games. There were 23 games that went beyond 13 innings in length in 2019, but it happened just once over the first two seasons the rule was in place. 2022 data wasn’t immediately available but the longest game last year was a 15-inning contest between the Guardians and Twins, per the Associated Press.

Though many fans dislike the rule, it’s not hard to see why players and teams like it. For the players, they now have less chance of playing in an exhausting contest that goes to, say, 18 innings or six hours or both. For the teams, those situations would usually lead to a taxed bullpen and resultant roster shuffling, which is now far less likely. That doesn’t even get to the logistics of a game going so long that it leads to rescheduling flights or throwing off sleep schedules or other logistical issues that could be created. Whether fans like it or not, it seems it is now here to stay.

As for the rules on position players pitching, Rogers reported on that possibility earlier today. The league had tried to tamp down on the occurrence recently by mandating that it could only happen when a game involved a six-run lead or more. Unlike the free runner rule, this one did not accomplish its goal. There were 32 instances of position players pitching in 2017 but that number rose to 132 last year. With the instances still growing, it seems both players and the league agreed that it was necessary to further limit the conditions where it was acceptable to turn to such a tactic.