Home Extra Stuff National

Bullpen Carts may be making a grand return to MLB in 2018 (Video)

As MLB looks for new ways to speed up baseball games, bullpen carts could be making a return to a ballpark near you—and sooner than you think.

As MLB looks for new ways to speed up baseball games, bullpen carts could be making a return to a ballpark near you—and sooner than you think.

According to MLB.com’s Phil Rogers, bullpen carts could be making their triumphant return to baseball in time for the 2018 regular season.

Bringing about the return of a mode of transportation that saves professional athletes from the unbearable experience of exerting energy for 100-200 feet worth of outfield grass? I am all in on this development. And you should be too.

It has been far too long that today’s pitchers have been forced to exert so much energy traveling from the outfield to the mound. It’s 2018 people. We have watches that can send text messages. We have self-driving cars. Packages that we order can be dropped out of the sky and land at our front door. It’s high time that we start respecting our pitchers enough to stop making them travel short distances in an era that hasn’t seen the invention of the motor vehicle.

More realistically though, bringing back bullpen carts is an awesome idea. The level of excitement added just by switching a light jog out for a quick drive is incredible. There are so many other ways to make a call to the bullpen so much more interesting. You could put LED lights on the cart that sync up with the hype video on the jumbotron. You could turn the cart into a throne for wheeling in your ace closer. Heck, you could have a live band on the back of the cart playing the pitcher’s favorite song. The possibilities are just endless.

Adding a golf cart with a hat into the mix is just pure, classic, baseball fun. This is the kind of move that shows that MLB is making a conscious effort to make the atmosphere as entertaining as the product on the field. And what screams “speed up the game” more than a golf cart that can’t drive 25, much less 55?

Let’s not forget about the biggest benefit of all: If bullpen carts do make a return, Bartolo Colon‘s career will likely be extended by another three-to-five years. Baseball is better when Big Sexy is a part of it.


Lifetime ballplayer and Yankee fan. Strongly believe that the eye-test and advanced stats can be used together instead of against each other.