MLB is Turning into the NBA, and that is Not Good...

I over heard a young boy at a baseball game ask his dad, "What does a complete game mean?" It led to pitch count.  Load Management.  They both kind of have the same ring to them.  Cuss words to us old school sports fans.  Just because the NBA season is mercifully over, we do not have to have MLB pick up where they left off with their style of play.  

Paul Skenes, if you haven't seen, had a no hitter on Thursday through seven innings.  99 pitches, that's it.  Derek Shelton decided that was enough.  Time to pull him.  11 strikeouts, one walk.  A totally dominant performance against the Milwaukee Brewers.  Evident they didn't have an answer to him.  99 pitches.  Soft.   Load management at its finest.   Since when does Kawhi Leonard play in MLB?  I would have loved to have seen Nolan Ryan get yanked after 7, pursuing a no hitter.  I would have loved to have seen Jack Morris have that happen.  He would have punched Sparky Anderson.  Sparky wouldn't have done that.  That is and would have been a huge disservice to the game and its fans.

Now I know this is nothing new.  Back in my day (saying with the gravely voice), teams had a four man rotation.  Pitching every fifth day.  Occasionally, there would be a firth starter in the dog days of August, or in the midst of a couple of doubleheaders.  Remember the days of the Orioles with four twenty game winners?  1971...yes for you young folks, two generations ago.  Well, I thought that with the advent of the five man rotation in the late 90s, that was the answer.  Apparently not.  

Also back in the day, you had one reliever that came into the 9th inning, sometimes the 8th and 9th for a four out save.  In the 1990s, the 8th inning set-up man came in.  So you had two relievers.  Ok, so that meant starters would only have to go 7.  But if they had a no-no going, they stayed in.  Now they have the 7th inning specialist, and the hold for the 8th inning guy is a stat that makes that pitcher a millionaire, many times over.  

That leads to what I thought was the end all be all.  Quality start.  Six innings makes you eligible for a quality start.  Load management.  MLB's answer for load management.  Pitch count.  did I mention 99 pitches for Skenes yesterday with a no-no?  Soft.   

Now, I understand, with the way salaries have skyrocketed these days, you want to protect your investment.  You want to save him for the future.  Have you checked to see how well that has worked for the Detroit Tigers?  It has really worked for Casey Mize.  I tire of the manager speak from A J Hinch saying that he knows what he is doing, he is the manager for a reason.  It used to make me cringe when Jim Leyland used to hold out his position players to "give them a blow."  Let them rest.  Save them for the playoffs, or the stretch run.  How many times did that back-fire.  

This is baseball's time to shine.  There is nothing else to compete with until the middle-to-late August.  NBA is over, except for the silly season of summer league.  NFL is not here yet.  NHL is on respite.  It seems like we have this talk every year.  Baseball cannot seem to get out of its own way.  I love baseball.  Was my first favorite sport.  I have said it before.  Nothing better on a warm summer night than having a cold beverage of choice,  the radio on, and sitting on the back veranda, listening to the Tigers against whomever.  But with all the analytic mumbo-jumbo, it takes the fun out of the game.  Pitchers going four inning starts with out giving up a run?  Bullpen games?  Sparky and Whitey Herzog are rolling in their graves.

99 pitches.  A no-hitter.  Getting pulled for a reliever.  Thats entertainment?  No that is load management.  We already have the NBA not caring what the fans think.  Don't be soft like the NBA.  Be better.  Here is your chance.  Please don't blow it.