Why MLB designated runner rule one rule change too many

It doesn’t take a traditionalist to see that MLB introducing a designated runner rule would be a terrible idea for baseball.

In case you missed it, MLB has recently made some rule changes.

Pitch clocks. Bigger bases. Fewer pickoff throws. An expedited format for extra innings. Specially engineered baseballs to increase or decrease offense as the commissioner’s office sees fit.

Okay, that last one hasn’t exactly been substantiated. As for the rest of them? Those are only among the most recent and prominent in a series of rule changes that have been introduced over the past few seasons in the interest of making the game more exciting for the next generation, or at least more expeditious for existing fans to sit through on any given night. Some of the changes have admittedly been very effective. Others? It would depend who you asked.

But one of the latest potential rule changes being experimented with in the minors, a designated pinch runner, would be a terrible idea for MLB.

Now before diving in on why a designated pinch runner would be so terrible, a few more words on all those other rule changes. If you support and have enjoyed those changes, you are a savvy fan and should consider buying more tickets. On the other hand, if you disagree with any of them, you are generally labeled as a traditionalist, too set in your ways for your own good, and certainly too set in them for the good of MLB. At any rate, that’s the narrative MLB and much of the Twitterverse seems to be pushing these days.

Personally? I’m somewhere in the middle, having no real issue with the 2023 changes while simultaneously hating changes to extra innings and the universal DH. So … that probably does put me in the traditionalist camp. However, at least in terms of how MLB views the paying public, I would throw out another definition of “traditionalist”:

Someone who is still going to watch anyway.

Because make no mistake — all these changes are not being made in the interest of serving fans with clear memories of things like the summer of 1998, or the strike of 1994, or Kirk Gibson’s famous homer. They are being made in the interest of fans who grew up with social media accounts and multiple streaming platforms. Either them, or fans who grew up ignoring MLB for the NFL, but find themselves checking out on America’s Game more and more with every concussion. In short, the rule changes are meant to bring in more fans, more dollars. Not retain or reward the base.

Which, in most cases, is just fine. If most of these changes lead to more dollars being generated by my favorite team, and said team spending more on payroll, then it was probably worth it. Again. many of them have produced positive results already. It’s hard to fault any of the newly introduced changes.

That designated pinch runner though? Excessive, shortsighted, and foolish for two reasons.