FanPost Friday: Pondering pace of play

Welcome to FanPost Friday at MLB Daily Dish. Each Friday we’ll offer you up a prompt to gush about on our FanPost section, for better or for worse. If we really love your argument, we’ll make sure your post sees the front page of our site. Here’s this week’s prompt:

Pace of play has been a hot topic running through the MLB recently, with Robert Manfred cradling it in his lap like a villain about to tell you their plan for world domination. And it seems that plan is now inching closer to becoming a part of a major league baseball game near you.

Minor league baseball games will now begin extra innings with a runner on second. Specifics are currently being ironed out and the league will then weight the consequences and benefits of the decision. In the case of this move paying off and the game ending at a quickened pace, a runner who starts an extra inning on second will be counted as reaching on an error in way of earned runs. No errors will be charged to the team. Pitch clocks and mound visit limitations have already been added to baseball to curtail what have been deemed unnecessary delays.

To play devil’s advocate a bit, the move could be smart when implemented in the minors because it keeps the young players healthy and not overworked. Arms aren’t burnt through and players have more recovery time for their next game. So shouldn’t the same concept be just as important in the major leagues as well?

Let’s be clear: this rule isn’t a total shock to the system, as it’s also been tested in the World Baseball Classic and luckily no one took to the streets over it. In some cases, the runner on second didn’t even make a difference. But what’s really the plus side of it? Pace of play hasn’t exactly deterred the millions of baseball fans that flock to games each year. As for player health, well...isn’t that what bullpens and benches are for? Does it take some thrill out of the game or add to it even more? Either way, it’s time to start thinking about what happens if this move makes it to the show.

That brings us to this week’s question: What do you think of MLB testing the “runner on second” maneuver in minor-league games?

Answer this question in a FanPost here and let us know how you feel about the new extra inning rule.