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MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

(thelibertyline.com)
302 points cf100clunk | 1 comments | 31 Mar 25 15:27 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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kaycebasques ◴[31 Mar 25 16:03 UTC] No.43536546[source]▶
If only the Yankees get access to it (e.g. they patented it and won't let other teams use it) then I could see it as an unfair advantage. In most other areas of America life, though, this innovation would be allowed or even celebrated.

I imagine it will go the way of the brilliant strategic innovation a few years back of shifting defenders heavily depending on the batter's statistical hitting patterns. It'll get banned because it makes the game more boring. If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement. I imagine it's quite expensive or impossible to shift the outfield walls back farther in most MLB stadiums.

I actually would love more of a no holds barred evolutionary battle in the MLB [1] but I know it's not gonna happen.

[1] https://youtu.be/gTmLz9B8wls

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perlgeek ◴[31 Mar 25 20:45 UTC] No.43539777[source]▶
> If home runs happen all the time, they lose their excitement.

So you're saying baseball gets more boring when people get better hitting the ball?

Sounds like there's something fundamentally wrong with the sport.

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1. alabastervlog ◴[31 Mar 25 21:22 UTC] No.43540128[source]▶
That doesn't follow at all.

Imagine if, somehow, soccer players got really good at scoring goals from midfield, such that a very high proportion of goals were scored after just two touches. That's exciting or interesting for, like... one game, then it's worse than before.

Are you there to watch people score goals, or to watch people play the game?

If there's a home-run more at-bats than not, they get boring. You do want plenty of solid hits (but you also want strike-outs! And walks! And bunts! You want diversity!) but you don't want a lot of them to be homers.

A home run is only exciting if it's uncommon, otherwise it's less interesting than most other things that can happen when the ball's hit into fair territory.