r/MLBNoobs

Edit 1: Thanks a lot to everyone replying and taking the time, and my apologies for the weird terms used. I learned the rule in another language so I didn't know the official terms of player positions and roles.

Hello everyone, I am watching my first games of baseball and as I grasp the gist of the rules, some dumb ones come to mind:

1- If it is okay for the pitcher to throw it directly to a base where an opponent might try to steal the next base and if missed it doesnt count as a +1 to the pitcher: Why does the pitcher ever have to throw it to the opponent bat holder? Like where is the limit?

2- I saw a situation where the pitcher threw the ball and the receiver missed it and ran to get it from the floor. Could the opponent holding the bat go for first base during that moment?

3- I see a lot of innings where no point is scored but a lot happens when a bat holder "rolls" the ball as himself and his teammates on advanced bases have time to get the next one. Why isn't "rolling" more of a thing? Wouldn't this give more chances of getting bases and ultimately score?

4- If a ball is fair but ends up in the crowd, are the runners supposed to jump in the stands and get it or does it count as an HR?

5- I watched two full post seasons games and never saw this situation: There is a guy in 2nd and 3rd base, 1 out, and the hitter comes, does a roll. Now what should the defenders do if it's a fair ball? Get to ball and pass it to the kneeling receiver so the 3rd base guy doesnt score and then pass to 3rd base to block the guy that was on 2nd?

Thanks everyone

Why isn't Strike Percentage a bigger deal? I've never heard it discussed, yet it seems like it would be a solid indicator of a pitcher's performance.

Or no, work stoppage concerns are only about the regular season?

I've slowly started getting back into baseball this season and this is just an observation I had. What happened to the fiery Yankees/Red Sox games or the Dodgers/Giants? Is it because MLB is scheduling more interleague games now? Are players just becoming friendlier with each other? I mean Mookie Betts on the Dodgers literally has a podcast where he interviews players from the opposing team. Maybe I'm wrong or not paying enough attention. Thoughts?

It doesn’t make sense to have teams grind daily 3+ months to get a wild card spot just to be eliminated in 2 mid week afternoon games! After 162 games, now they wanna rush through?!

I think it would make more sense and if it was like the NBA, less regular season games and more best of 7 playoffs.

I've been itching to play a baseball video game lately, but honestly haven't played a sports game since the original Xbox. I currently have an Xbox one and a decent PC and after looking around there's so many options and it's hard to tell how each one is different. Any leads would be helpful.

I'd like some team and player customization and prefer to actually control the players, OOTP seemed a little too spreadsheety for me.

The two that seemed most promising were baseball pro spirit 2026 or MLB the show '24, but I am open to suggestions the last baseball game I played was MLB slugfest 2003.

Just a curiosity question, like in all other sports the coach will say, go get this person and the guy will go sub whoever out of the game. Why cant the manager call time from the dugout, raise his hand like he usually does to signal the bullpen and the old pitcher can just hand the ball off to the new pitcher.

With perhaps 3 pitches from the mound to make sure there are no mound issues? I know this is where desire to shorten games comes into conflict with existing commercial time, but is it really necessary to have a full 2 mins 30 seconds for on-mound warmup?

Bringing back bullpen carts for every team and changing this rule could shave another 6-10 minutes off the average game I’d guess. Might require managers to start warmups slightly earlier but that just adds to the strategy imo.

Luke Keaschall of the Twins gave Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies a home run last night. However, if Keaschall wouldn't have touched the ball, it would've landed in play and probably would've been a double. In a situation like this, why is it scored a home run and not a double and a two-base error?

I know there is a delay between when an event is reported over terrestrial radio and when it gets reported over the streaming version of the same radio.

I also notice when I'm at a game and the game video feeds shown on televisions throughout the stadium are behind the live point of the game.

Anyone know the technical reason for these delays?

I understand the platoon advantage and that left-handedness is an advantage in sports because of its rarity.

But in baseball, are teams more focused on lefty batters to combat the opposing team's righty pitchers first, and then they go looking for lefty pitchers to get an advantage over the opposing team's lefty batters? Or is it the opposite?

I just saw a clip of Drew Gilbert from San Francisco missing a pretty routine catch in center field because he lost the ball in the sun. He had his huge sunglasses sitting on top of his hat and only put them on his face after missing the catch.

This isn't an isolated incident. I've seen or heard of several other cases this season. As a Cubs fan, I see PCA do this time to time and it frustrates me. Do players think that they lose some of their visual precision having them on between plays? Are all of these glasses more "form over function" and it's about looking cool?

for the 2nd question just imagine there were more positions on the outfield, guarding each outfielder to just pick the ball off them before they get it. I know it’s unorthodox but go along with it. but again answer BOTH questions in the title please!

I've seen videos of pitchers showing how they grip balls for different pitches but what do you look for to tell what pitch it is when it's being thrown?

let’s say Bo Jackson was an amazing NFL player & great on the outfield but 9th/9 in batting ability, would he still have his main starter spot? I might be poorly wording the question but is outfield play more important than batting in this case?

(Context here is I’m a Phillies fan) I constantly see plays where there’s a runner on first, no outs (or maybe 1 out), and a fly ball hit like 360+ feet and caught for an out, and the runner just goes and has to double back. Like last night Derek Hill hit a 385 foot fly out with Marsh on first and he didn’t tag up. It seems simple to weigh if the ball is easily catchable, and if it is, wait on the bag.

When the AL team was at the NL stadium, they used NL rules where the AL team's pitcher had to hit, and theoretically, there was no place for their designated hitter.

But surely the AL teams' DH must have been one of their most important players, and they couldn't leave them out of their lineup in these important games.

So how did they find a fielding position for them? To plan for that, did the AL teams have their DHs practice at a certain fielding position during the season in preparation for these games at the NL stadium? And did the AL teams just have to accept subpar fielding in exchange for having their DHs in the lineup at the NL stadium?

I was born in 1992, so I wasn’t alive for the whole Pete Rose gambling stuff. Forgive me.

I also want to say that I am not denying Pete Rose bet on baseball. I won’t start a debate either about whether he belongs in the HOF or not

My question is, how did the MLB first suspect Pete Rose was betting on baseball? In today’s world, with the Internet, everyone having smartphones, CCTV cameras everywhere, etc., that stuff is easy to track, hence why almost everyone gets caught if they bet on the sport they are in.

But in the late 1980s, that stuff (aside from CCTV cameras, although not nearly as much exited back then as today) didn’t exist yet. So I am curious how it was first suspected that Pete Rose was betting on baseball. Was he seen inside a casino? Was he seen with a known bookie? What happened to make MLB investigate him in the first place?

Just a general curiosity question.

This might be a dumb question, but why are dugouts so open to the field?

Isn’t there always a chance a hitter absolutely smokes a foul ball straight into the dugout and hits a player or coach who isn’t paying attention? With how hard some of these balls are hit, that seems like it could be pretty dangerous.

I know there’s netting protecting fans, so why isn’t there something similar protecting the dugout?

How important is coaching in baseball? Honestly, with the crazy lineup the Dodgers had, I think any amateur coach could have won a World Series with them!