We Shouldn't Let MLB Use Pandemic as an Excuse to Use Garbage Minor-League Extra Innings Rule

Major League Baseball insider Jon Heyman might have been a little premature with his erroneous "baseball is back" report last week, but most of his followers would say that his intel his accurate most of the time.

That's what makes his latest scoop pretty concerning. Much like the maddening negotiation process, MLB brass are prepared to be opportunists amid the coronavirus pandemic. Per Heyman, the league is planning to use the minor league rule that permits a runner on second base in extra innings in the 2020 MLB regular season.

Also this year the MLB plan is to use the Minor League rule with the runner on second to expedite extra-inning games ending, since the spring will be short, the schedule will be tight and there’s a desire to avoid 15-inning games and longer.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 23, 2020

As if starting the 2020 season months later than it should have wasn't enough -- the subsequent pandemic plan was for Opening Day to be on July 4, if you were keeping score -- the league now wants to use COVID-19 as an excuse to take a gimmicky page out of the minor league's playbook? No, thanks. We get that the schedule projects to be a gauntlet and lengthy extra-inning games would be far from ideal, but expediting games in this way takes away from the beauty of baseball.

Simplifying the sport to this extent just seems unnecessary, and most fans had the same reaction in Heyman's replies. One even provided a pretty humorous analogy.

Maybe they should put the ball on a tee too in order to save the pitchers arms. Smh
— Steve Oswald (@SteveO_2017) June 23, 2020

That's definitely not the greatest example, but we get the thinking behind it. Some, however, went right for commissioner Rob Manfred's jugular by asserting that he's ruining the sport.

STOP RUINING BASEBALL MANFRED
— Ryan ? (@BrewPack8) June 23, 2020

We definitely don't disagree. Simply put, this bogus rule has no business taking hold in the bigs. Baseball purists are wholly justified in detesting the fact that MLB is even considering using it this year.