Following a brutal 19-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone thinks a mercy rule could help.
One night after the New York Yankees were eviscerated by the Indians, Aaron Boone shared his thoughts on the introduction of a mercy rule in Major League Baseball.
Aaron Boone said that MLB should explore a mercy rule to avoid having teams send position players to the mound in games like last night.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 16, 2019
Aaron Boone says he wouldn't be opposed to some sort of mercy rule in the regular season for blowouts like last night. Said he thinks it would help cut down on some of the unwritten rule stuff about whether or not to swing on 3-0 in a lopsided game, etc.
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 16, 2019
Logically speaking, a mercy rule obviously makes sense. With all the injuries the Yankees have suffered this year, the last thing Boone wants to do is put his backup first baseman on the mound. Teams don’t typically come back from 14-run deficits.
So why not call it early? Why not let everyone go home a little earlier with some extra rest and come back the next day?
It just makes logical sense.
Unfortunately, as a selfish fan of position players pitching, I absolutely hate this.
From a baseball purist standpoint, one of the most beautiful things about the game of baseball is that it isn’t over until it’s over. There’s no running out the shot clock or holding the puck in the corner. The opposing pitcher has to go out and get all 27 guys out, whether it’s a one-run game or a blowout.
And from a fan fun standpoint, nothing juices up fans like seeing a backup catcher come in and toss 60 mph meatballs. If fans didn’t love it, the Cut4 twitter account wouldn’t have dozens of tweets on their position player pitching thread.
Mike Ford might just be the first ever Ivy Leaguer to be a….
(•_•)
<) )╯POSITION
/(•_•)
( (> PLAYER
/(•_•)
<) )> PITCHING
/ pic.twitter.com/FQ9I2L2axX— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 16, 2019
And we the fans wouldn’t get to make jokes about pictures like this…
https://twitter.com/audruhhhh/status/1162185399504162818?s=20
But that’s the perspective of a selfish fan that doesn’t want to lose videos of Ford striking out players with 67 mph hooks which breaks only through the force of gravity.
Mike Ford throwing absolute CHEDDAR in the 9th. Should’ve started the game. The Pride of Princeton! pic.twitter.com/sjEDeorbw3
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) August 16, 2019
Sadly, a mercy rule makes too much sense for games like this. There’s no need to have our guys out there risking their bodies without any realistic possibility of winning. I don’t want to lose position players pitching.
However, I also don’t want Ford getting slapped in the face by a liner with a 110 mph exit velocity.
