Where the ‘Swing’ misses
The first Swing Off tiebreaker at the All-Star Game was a big hit with fans and players. Here's why it shouldn't be the tiebreaker in regular season games.
HEART OF THE ORDER
A glimpse of the future?
The Swing Off received such rave reviews, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it adopted as the tie-breaker by 2027.
You are probably somewhat familiar with a short-lived TV show called “Home Run Derby” that pitted two top stars each week in a home run hitting contest at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.
The show was syndicated — sold to individual TV stations around the country — and originally ran in early 1960 and would be unknown to almost anyone under 70 if ESPN hadn’t resurrected the reruns in 1989.
The show is credited as the inspiration for a home run hitting contest during All-Star festivities, beginning in 1985.
Take a look at the intro to the TV show. The producers wanted a clip that showed the excitement of baseball.
What did they show? A bases-loaded triple.
Without context, an out-of-the-park homer is not the most exciting play in baseball.
White Sox owner Bill Veeck thought the round tripper was something of a flat event that it needed something more.
“It’s just boom and then it’s gone. So I thought, ‘ah, we’ll try and make this more dramatic,’ ” he explained.
That is why he came up with the idea for an “exploding scoreboard.”
And it is why I don’t want the “Swing Off,” which debuted to rave reviews in the All-Star Game, to become the way we break ties after nine innings in the regular season.
I prefer the runner on second base — the so-called ghost runner or Manfred man — to start each extra inning.
The three true outcomes — walk, homer, and strikeout, plays not dependent on fielding or base running — take on an outsized role in today’s major league game.
And while in context they all can be thrilling — hey, if your team wins on a bases-loaded walk, it is electrifying — they lack the intrinsic action of a stolen base, a spectacular catch, a great throw to nip the runner at first, a double play, or even, many times, a bunt.
I think the current tiebreaker leads to more plays like that.
OK, seeing the ball go far is fun.
But I don’t feel any of the true outcomes can compete with a close play at home plate, which in my mind is the best play in sports. The action is great, and it is truly an all-or-nothing deal. Unlike, say a dive into the line from the 1-yard line in most cases, the play at the plate is an all-or-nothing play. You either score, or that runner, who was 75% of the way home if he stayed on third, is erased, and you lose one of your outs.
And the current tie-breaker is baseball, which the Swing Off is only kind of.
For now, at least, you are going to have a coach stand behind a screen and throw batting practice pitches and see if someone can knock it out of the park. That has never been a part of the game. It’s part of preparing for the game.
It’s a bit like deciding the British Open by a long-driving competition. Or maybe a tie-breaker on the practice range to see which golfer can be the first to plunk the range ball-picker. (You know, the vehicle scoots around and scoops up the balls.)
I know soccer purists don’t like matches being decided on penalty kicks, but at least penalty kicks are part of soccer. (For some reason, hockey fans don’t seem bothered by penalty shots breaking ties in a shootout. But again, this is part of hockey.)
Of course, traditionalists won’t like the Swing Off, but they don’t like starting the inning with a runner on second base.
The Swing Off is quick and has drama.
I think the novelty will wear off, and MLB is about to make a mistake. Long term, I think having more plays outside the three true outcomes is in the sport’s best interest.
However, even if adopting the Swing Off proves to be a mistake in the long term, it will still be a popular decision in the short term. And certainly, there are worse mistakes.
BONUS FRAMES
Dino Ebel has ties to two history-making events
Dodgers coach Dino Ebel had quite a week. You could even say it was historical.
First, his son Brad Ebel, who just finished his senior season as a shortstop for Corona High School in Corona, California, was chosen by the Brewers as the 32nd pick overall in the MLB Free Agent Draft.
Conona’s Seth Hernandez was selected sixth overall by the Pirates, and infielder Billy Carlson went 10th to the White Sox.
This is the first time three high school teammates were drafted in the top 50 selections. Hernandez and Carlson were the first high school teammates taken in the first 10 picks.
Two other Corona players, Jaiden Lo Re (Orioles, fifth round) and Ethin Bingaman (Diamondbacks, 20th) were drafted.
On Tuesday, Ebel was feeding National League sluggers Kyle Stowers and Kyle Schwarber fat pitches in the Swing Off that gave the NL the victory in the All-Star Game.
Corona’s biggest champion sadly doesn’t get to see this
There are high school champions, and then there are champions of high school sports.
Jerry Soifer fits into the latter category. Soifer spent half a century photographing and writing about community news in western Riverside County. He is fondly remembered for the thorough coverage he gave to high school sports in Corona and Norco.
Jerry and I worked together for seven years at Riverside County Press Enterprise. And when I found out that Corona had all this baseball talent this spring, I knew I needed to talk to Jerry. I figured I would try to get hold of him in late June or July.
Jerry passed away on April 27. He was 80.
There’s a tribute to him by my friend Cindy Rhodes.
Bad bullpens that are worse than they seem
The D-backs and Angels wrapped up what’s considered the first half of the baseball season with a three-game series in Anaheim. The Angels won two out of three.
The teams are similar. They are fringe wild-card contenders. The Angels took a 47-49 record into the All-Star break; the D-backs had a 47-50 mark.
And they have terrible bullpens. The Angels’ relief corps ranks 28th in ERA with a 5.02 mark. The D-backs are 27th (4.94).
What often happens with bad bullpens is that they break down from overuse.
The Athletics are a good example. They have the second-highest ERA in MLB and rank fourth in usage (376 1/3 innings).
That’s not the case here. The Angels have used the pen for 335 1/3 innings. That ranks 20th. The D-backs are 25th, logging 331 1/3 innings.
The Angels lead baseball with 22 blown saves and have only converted 50% of their save chances. Only the White Sox (43%) are worse.
The D-backs start the second half with 17 blown saves, in a six-way tie for fourth place, converting a more repsectable 61% of save chances.
Largely because of the bullpen, the D-backs have lost three games in which they scored at least 11 runs. That happened only once before in the franchise’s admittedly short history (1998 was the first season).
The Nationals have the worst bullpen ERA (5.88) in MLB, and they only logged 332 innings (24th most).
But they have only blown 14 saves. More importantly, the Nationals are not contending for anything.
The D-backs and Angels are expected to be sellers at the trade deadline.
Their stories might be different if they had even average relief pitching.
Answer to a trivia question in the future
Pete Alonso was the last batter scheduled to hit for the NL in the Swing Off, but the contest ended when Jonathan Aranda went 0-for-3. That’s gonna come up in a quiz sometime.