Despite reports stating the rule dictating that the automatic extra-inning runner at second wouldn’t be in place for the 2022 season, it will return for another MLB campaign.
That’s what MLB.com’s Houston Astros reporter Brian McTaggart confirmed on Wednesday.
“In an effort to preserve player health and safety during the condensed schedule, the rule that each extra inning begins with a runner on second base has been restored for the 2022 season, continuing what was in place for the 2020 and 2021 seasons,” he said.
In an effort to preserve player health and safety during the condensed schedule, the rule that each extra inning begins with a runner on second base has been restored for the 2022 season, continuing what was in place for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 31, 2022
MLB Is In Love With The Rule And The “Ghost” Runner Will Return In 2022
The rule was initially used in the pandemic season, in an effort to keep games shorter.
Fans didn’t like it so much, but the league did, and it is now implementing it for a third straight season.
It’s never good to hand teams things they didn’t earn, and the rule may actually benefit the away team, since it will have a chance to strike first with no outs and a runner at second base.
Yes, the rule works both ways, but often, the home team has to go to bat down to their last three outs with a three or four-run disadvantage.
Some people like the rule, but fans, in their majority, would prefer to watch the entire game with no “ghost” runners on the bases that can alter the outcome of a game.
Yes, the rule often makes games shorter when the two squads can’t break a tie and have to go to extra innings, but there is a sense that the reasoning is tied more to issues with TV and broadcast networks than to the actual health of the players involved.
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