The Disappearing Ghost Runner

While we here at BP support MLB for their consistency in deciding that the pitch clock rules would remain the same even for the upcoming playoffs, that same consistency seems to be lost when it comes to the ghost runner.  We want to be clear though, BP despises both the pitch clock and the ghost runner and sees no place for either of these rules in the game today.

Our thinking is that the sport should apply a heinous rule, no matter how heinous, consistently throughout the season and the post season.  In the matter of the pitch clock, we outlined our support here to maintain the same rule in effect for the playoffs.  In the case of the ghost runner, whereby teams place an automatic runner on base in extra innings, the league will instead discontinue that rule in the post season.  Once again, we reiterate our hatred of the ghost runner, maybe even more than the pitch clock.  As much as we despise that rule, we wonder why there should be different rules in the regular season versus the post season. 

There was this Washington Post article from earlier this summer that expressed their head over heels love of the pitch clock and did not want it touched for the post season.  When it came to the ghost runner, they had a different position, which was:

One rule does change in baseball’s playoffs: The absolutely ridiculous ghost runner on second base in extra innings mercifully goes away.  If MLB wants to be consistent with its regular season vs. postseason rules, there is an easy fix: Get rid of that absurdity entirely.

Based on these musings by one of the largest mainstream media outlets, which in our opinion is representative of most of the press, the changes they love should stay, but remove any rules they do not like from the post season.  Therefore, this writer wants to judge teams on one set of rules in the regular season and different ones in the post season.  That is the kind of nutty logic that brought us ridiculous rule changes like the ghost runner in the first place.

Juxtapose this Washington Post writer’s logic with ours here at BP.  We believe tampering with the rules that have governed the game for almost 150 years will tarnish the integrity and the consistency of the game.  The rules of baseball created long ago and consistently applied from year to year, and from regular season to post season are the reason for the popularity of the sport we enjoy today.  We fall into a trap if we consider these rules malleable and changeable on a whim.  No, we should not take the rules that have governed the game for granted.    

Major league baseball is a statistic driven sport, and one not just used by teams to evaluate players, but also by the fans to debate when comparing who was the “the best or worst” in relation to historical statistics.  Changes to the rules such as pitch clocks, universal DHs, limitations on throws to first, ghost runners, etc. rob the fans of that comparability of players and teams.  Take away that consistency and we can no longer compare our favorite players, teams and their performances over time.  Take away that comparability and you remove an important part of the fan experience, which inherently has been a part of baseball.  

That word consistency is all so important especially in a game such as baseball.  That word consistency is obviously a word the Washington Post and the MLB hierarchy should both familiarize themselves with for the good of the game.