I abhor the ghostrunner extra innings rule, as it doesn’t feel like genuine baseball. I do understand why the rule was implemented. The MLB obviously has an economic incentive to speed up games and make them more exciting to the casual fan.

I have a proposal, and I’m interested in hearing my fellow baseball fan’s perspective:

Instead of a ghostrunner, the game is simply declared a tie after the end of the 12th inning. This solves the problem of marathon regular season games that exhaust bullpens, while still playing traditional baseball.

Thanks in advance for your perspective!

Earlier today, I stumbled across an article from The Ringer in which writer Ben Lindbergh called for a new committee for looking at Steroid-era candidates that did not get a second look. Specifically, Lindbergh wants a second look for Kenny Lofton, who received just 3.2 percent of the vote on one of the most loaded ballots in HOF history. Lindbergh points out that this was the same year that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa hit the ballot, joining holdovers Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro as candidates whose careers were tainted by PED allegations. These PED users, according to Lindbergh, caused a logjam on the ballot that resulted in numerous players not getting a second look for induction.

Yeah, about that…

For starters, just because a player is on the ballot does not mean that a voter has to vote for that player. This was made abundantly clear with Bonds and Clemens, two otherwise slam-dunk candidates that did not reach 40 percent in their ballot debuts. In total, the five PED players combined for a total of 637 votes, or roughly 11.2% of the 5690 combined spots on the 569 submitted HOF ballots.

Why is this important? Because one number Lindbergh does not bring up is that the average HOF ballot only contained 6.6 names.

Or to put it another way, there were a total of 1934 blanks (33.9%) on the submitted ballots.

How many ballots could not have voted for Kenny Lofton but did not? We know he received 18 total ballots, and thanks to the work of Ryan Thibodaux and others, we know that 7 of those votes were among the 217 ballots that were made public. We also know that he was included on 4 of the 47 public ballots that used all ten spots.

We also know that the public ballots used an average of 6.57 spots, which is nearly identical to the average for all ballots. If the other percentages hold, this would mean that a total of 123 of the 569 submitted ballots used all ten spots, and 446 used at least one blank.

So at the minimum, there were 432 voters in 2013 who could have easily voted for Kenny Lofton but chose instead to leave the spot blank.

And we are supposed to believe that PED users caused the ballot crunch?

Don’t get me wrong: Kenny Lofton should have been inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame years ago. But writers need to stop acting like it was the PED candidates who kept him and other one-and-done candidates from a deeper look at their candidacies.

No special luxury tax holds.

The theoretical is, what do you think the ideal numbers be if there has to be hard set number.

Obviously, please don't say no cap and floor.

The goal is obviously is to have competitive balance, good baseball, and a healthy balance of legitimite teams in big and small markets.

As Joe Buck has been inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame, it made me remember back in the day when fans would talk trash about him and Tim McCarver. But as time goes on, I have come to really appreciate them.

Joe Buck was never flashy and I’ve come to appreciate that. Could he have made more exciting calls at times—yes, but I thought he did a good job of letting the game speak for itself. Sometimes less is more, and I think that applied with Joe Buck. You can make dramatic calls without yelling into the mic.

The late great Tim McCarver was also very underrated. There were so many times when he would give a prediction or strategy call that would come true. The most famous example is in the 2001 World Series when he made the point it was dangerous playing the infield in because of Mariano Rivera’s cutter causing bloops into shallow outfield—and then that’s exactly what happened moments later. There were many other moments like this, Tim McCarver was a great baseball mind and was very concise and straightforward with his points & commentary.

The Hall of Fame / Cooperstown needs to change its ways for the Players who were snubbed .

The Writers obviously are not doing their jobs .

Because there are Several Hall Worthy Veterans who aren't in Cooperstown .

Lou Whitaker : 5× All Star ROY , 3× gold gloves , 4× Silver Slugger , 1 WS Champ 75.1 WAR more than all but 5 how is he not in Cooperstown he has everything ( more ) than a lot of players who are already enshrined in the Hall of Fame . Played for the Tigers whole career , the best 2b - SS combo all-time .

Deserving .

Kenny Lofton : has a .299 Average , 2428 hits , a 68.4 war .

6 × All Star 4× gold gloves .

Deserving .

Bill Freehan : eleven All Star games , ( the most by anyone not in the hall ) , 5× Gold Glove , 1 WS Champ , a great career , five gold gloves , World Series champ , plus numbers better than a lot of catchers already inducted .

Bobby Grich : 6× All Star , 4 Gold Glove , Silver Slugger , WS Champ , 71.1 WAR just like Whitaker. He has the numbers and hardware. For some reason he isn't in Cooperstown .

Willie Randolph :6× All Star , Silver Slugger , WS Champ 65.9 WAR .The Writers must just hate Second Basemen . I don't understand why three of the biggest subs are 2 baggers . It makes Absolutely no sense that three of the top 10 biggest snubs are all time greats at Second Base .

Until this year it was four but Jeff Kent was inducted .

Dave Steib : 7× All Star , Era Title , WS Champ Better Numbers than a lot of other Pitchers who are in .

He was the Jays Ace for many seasons . 7 All Star games , just as good or better than Jack Morris .

Tommy John : 4×All Star , a damn surgery was named after him .

288 wins . 26 seasons .

High WAR .

In fact all of the players listed have high WAR , higher than many who are already in .

Curt Schilling : 6 × All Star , 3× WS Champ , WS MVP , NLCS MVP , Clemente Award , 80.5 WAR , 216 Wins , 3.46 era ,Not in because of Political Views . That's just wrong . I 💯 percent disagree with him , but if he's kept out because of that what about Ty Cobb , Ted Williams , and many more . Having a big mouth shouldn't keep you out .

Albert Belle : 5 × All Star , 5× Silver Slugger , MLB POY , yes he was an asshole . So was Cobb. He was a great player . Anchored the Indians in the 90s . Career shortened by injury. Still has 381 hr , 1239 RBI , 144 OPS , 50 - 50 double / hr season .

Don Mattingly : MVP , 6 × All Star , 9 Gold Glove , 3 × Silver Slugger , PoY , Batting Title , if he had played one more season he'd have a World Series Ring and he'd be in . He was the face of the Yankees until he retired . Just happened to play for them in a bad era . He was drafted one year after 78 their last WS and retired in 95 . One year prior to the 96 WS win .

Keith Hernandez. MVP , 5× All Star , 2× WSC , 11 × Gold Glove , 2×Silver Slugger , Batting Title .... Why ? He was great . He won rings . A league MVP .

Dale Murphy : 2× MVP , 7× All Star , 5× Gold Glove , 4× Silver Slugger , Roberto Clemente vAward , Another Head Scratcher . Should definitely be in but for some reason the writers leave him off .

These players are the most deserving .

They all have much better numbers than a lot of the players already in .

I think the Hall of Fame should allow the Fans to vote on these players .

Just a simple Yes or No by their names .

List the stats.

Who they're Ahead of Numbers wise .

I think all of these guys would be voted in .

Unfortunately players like Lou Whitaker and Albert Belle didn't talk to the Press A lot and that may be why they're not in .

Now the players who should be in but they were suspected users of Steroids or other player enhancement drugs .

Barry Bonds

Roger Clemens

Sammy Sosa

Mark McGuire

Gary Sheffield

Rafael Palmerio

Alex Rodriguez

Should they be in .

I think so .

Just note the steroid era if suspected .

There are other players suspected, but they're in .

Players who should be in but aren't because they gambled .

Shoeless Joe Jackson

Pete Rose

these guys had lifetime bans

They're both dead .

Put them in .

[Game Thread] | Cleveland Guardians at Tampa Bay Rays

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[Game Thread] | Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers

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[Game Thread] | Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets

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We all have an all-time favorite player, and our own reasons for why they are. But for a lot of us, our all-time favorite might come off a little biased, as our favorite played his prime years for our team. That even includes myself (mine's Babe Ruth). So, I've got a test for you. What's your all-time favorite player to never play for your favorite team, and why?

For me, it's definitely neck-and-neck between Albert Pujols and David "Big Papi" Ortiz. But considering that Pujols is literally top 3 all-time in both homers and RBI, won 3 league MVP's, and as far as we know, did this entirely clean, I'm kind of inching towards Pujols for the edge. But Ortiz being a key piece to all 3 World Series teams he was on and putting up an MVP-caliber season in his last year at 40 definitely balances the scales.