Baseball fans have surely noticed the uptick in ‘openers’ beginning the game on the mound instead of your typical starting pitcher who’s prepared to pitch five innings or more. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is not a fan of teams using the opener method, which cycles through several relief pitchers.
On Friday, just before the start of Game 1 of the World Series, Manfred spoke about how he’d like to bring back the days of starting pitchers being the first to the mound instead of relievers.
“There’s a lot of fans who feel like the change from ‘let’s see who today’s pitching matchup is’ to ‘who’s the opener today’ has not been a positive one.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred
MLB has not been afraid to make drastic changes to their rules in recent years, including bringing bigger bases, implementing a pitch clock, limiting pickoff attempts, and much more. All have been attempts to continue growing the game, sometimes to the dismay of certain fans, while making others much happier.
How will baseball handle teams who prefer to rely on their bullpen when the opportunity arises, instead of using a traditional starter? It’s just one of many challenges MLB is expected to address once again this offseason.
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