Camila Sosa
Just a couple of weeks into the major league baseball season, MLB and the Players Association reached an agreement on several important details that will affect both every game that goes to extra-innings, and all teams looking to rotate their players with the aim of finding more rest methods for them at the beginning of the harvest. And in particular, the Los Angeles Angels have just benefited from a unique rule for their star Shohei Ohtani.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the runner at second base at the start of the extra-inning phase of any game in the regular season will be reapplied in the 2022 season, following reports that he could cease to exist in the time period in which the new CBA was agreed. Initially installed from the shortened 2020 campaign as a method to shorten the duration of games along with double-day games with only seven innings (this condition if he will not return to baseball this year).
Although this is an unpopular measure among fans, it seems more of the circumstances than a decision made in the future for MLB, as it is only applied for this season and will be discussed again when we are on our way to the next campaign.
Among the other novelties, it was also agreed to increase the size of the current squad that major league clubs can have from the beginning of the season until May 1, from 26 to 28 players on the active roster. The owners’ committee vote is still expected to take place to accept and finish adjusting the details about this change, but sources hope there will be no problem in the procedure. This measure is to counteract mostly a very short Spring Training, and not exhaust or rush those players who have not finished their physical preparation for the harvest.
In turn, there will also be no restrictions on the number of pitchers teams use during the month of April, this with respect to the new rule imposed by MLB that only 13 pitchers can be used on the active roster during the campaign. This same condition should have been applied in 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was delayed until today.
Finally, the league and players also agreed to implement a new rule that allows starting pitchers to stay in the game as designated hitters so they leave the pitching mound in the same game, as long as they only fill that designated position. This rule was named after the current American League MVP, Japan’s Shohei Ohtani, who had to go through several positions during the game to stay in the lineup consistently at Los Angeles Angels games.
Will we see more players like Shohei Ohtani from now on in the big leagues?
