Explain this bullshit to a Brit

Explain this bullshit to a Brit

Not the sport itself, I get that. The fucking league system. I genuinely cannot fathom how it works.

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one league hasfat 40 year old men and the other has a free out every 9 at bats
the teams are split into the leagues arbitrarily

It's just a relic of the past. One of the most important driving factors of MLB is tradition and nostalgia.

The leagues really aren't that confusing though, just different rules on whether or not pitchers hit.

>league system
What is there to get. MLB is 30 teams operating under the umbrella of MLB, there are three tiers beneath with no relegation. If you like a player on the lower level, you call up that specific player to the slightly harder division, see how he does.

Having DH rule on a league and not having on another is nice 2bh

As in American League/National League

or the Minor League Affiliates?

it used to be two leagues that played independently from each other, that's why they have different rules. the season is so long because they used to decide the champion based on who had the best record, but then it was changed into a playoff system when the two leagues merged.

Just seems a bit arbitrary to me

there's too much of a stubborn traditionalist attitude toward the sport, there should have been one standard rulebook made after the merger. there's so many obscure rules it would make your head spin.

Name ONE

say you're a baserunner and the batter gets a hit, if the ball is caught or the batter is thrown out, when you return to the base you were originally at, you have to touch them all in reverse order, or you are out. not exactly obscure, but certainly arbitrary.

I never knew they had different rules. That's fucking weird.

It isn't arbitrary at all. There used to be two independent leagues. They came together to form the MLB.

If anything the fact that there is a historical background for the separation makes it less arbitrary than your average sports league.

Yeah. It'd be like league and union mixing together for a playoff

What do you mean? It's pretty much the same as the NFL, NBA, and NHL.

Why did the Astros move to the AL?
I know it evens out the number of teams, but Texas already had a team in the AL

They were the team that made the most sense to move out of the NL Central and into the AL West, which were the only two divisions that had a different number of teams than five.

Make an in state rivalry with the Rangers

If the pitcher moves his foot after he is "set" to throw the pitch, but does not throw the pitch it is a "balk" and the batter gets to move to first base.

If you strike out amd the catcher drops the pitch, you can still run to first base. The catcher must now throw to first base for you to actually be out

If there are less than 2 outs. runners on base and the batter hits the ball high into the air but not outside the dirt. That batter is automatically called out amd the player does not even need to catch the ball.

Those aren't arbitrary

Two of them are to protect the runner(s) from people intentionally dropping the ball to make a double play

The rules are not different in one league the pitcher must bat, in the other league the teams get to use a "designated hitter" in place of the pitcher, who is usually a fat dominican who can hit the ball 400 feet with ease. These differences dont subvert the equality when teams from different leagues play because they just play according to the rules of the home team

I know that but im trying to kinda just go along the lines of alot of rules that theres no point in explaining. None of the rules are arbitrary to me, but im trying to imagine this from a brit perspective

Sorry not arbitrary, i was focusing solely on the obscure part. Non baseball fans would just find these rules confusing

Let me tell you why that's bullshit

>If the pitcher moves his foot after he is "set" to throw the pitch, but does not throw the pitch it is a "balk" and the batter gets to move to first base.
This implies there isn't a runner on base already. You cannot balk with the bases empty. See "OBR Rule 2.00 - "An ILLEGAL PITCH is (1) a pitch delivered to the batter when the pitcher does not have his pivot foot in contact with the pitcher's plate; (2) a quick return pitch. An illegal pitch when runners are on base is a balk."

OBR Rule 8.01(d) - "If the pitcher makes an illegal pitch with the bases unoccupied, it shall be called a ball unless the batter reaches first base on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batter or otherwise."

>If you strike out amd the catcher drops the pitch, you can still run to first base. The catcher must now throw to first base for you to actually be out
While I agree this rule is random, it has an interesting history. The article is long but I'll tl;dr it. It's a reminant of old baseball rules that came from an older German stick & ball sport. sabr.org/research/dropped-third-strike-life-and-times-rule

>If there are less than 2 outs. runners on base and the batter hits the ball high into the air but not outside the dirt. That batter is automatically called out amd the player does not even need to catch the ball.
This rule makes sense. If the fielder were to let the ball drop and the Infield Fly Rule didn't exist, you could turn double and triple plays with ease. The IFR prevents letting fielders do that.

SeeI cleared up what i was referring to.

there used to be two leagues that were independent of each other but they merged so there would only be one huge major league but there are still some unsynced rules between them. its not an issue due to the opposing team just using the home team's rules when they face a team from the other league.

Casual baseball fan here, but since one league doesn't have a DH what do they do for the World Series? Like does the NL team have to designate one of their position players as DH or call one up? Isn't that a disadvantage?

Itt: we try our best but it just gets more confusing. We all know why these rules exist because we grew up with the game amd learned more as we got older. Its not like soccer or basketball, those sports you could tech the rules to the person by watching just a couple games on tv and explaining

You're correct. During the World Series the advantage swings to the home team for that reason. National League games have the pitcher at bat, putting the American League team at a disadvantage because they now have to bat their pitcher.
American League home games put the National League team to bat an often mediocre batter as their DH. While they're often better batters than pitchers, the American League team will have a designated DH.

Simple, 4 games are played by one leagues rules. 3 games are played by another. This advantage is whichever league wins the all star game. In terms of designated hitters and pitchers batting there is no disadvantage. The team that normally doesnt use a dh just uses their best hitter from the bench.

But wouldn't the best hitter from your bench be substantially worse than the DH from the AL team, who was signed to play an entire season in that position? And are NL pitchers really that much better at batting than AL pitchers that it evens this out? I imagine pitchers from both leagues are shit at batting.

i think it is sort of even

AL teams can pay good money for a DH while NL uses one of their bench guys

NL pitchers bat more often during the season so that's some advantage for them, but just having a pitcher in your batting lineup requires more strategy in pitching changes, lineup arrangement, and situational hitting, so you could argue NL managers would be better at it

>rules aren't different
>goes on about the different rules
Nice

Trust me the al hitters are miserable especially if they have never played in thr nl. The NL guys suck but at least they see pitches. The batters box is mars to most al hitters

Meant to say the rules are "not that different"

AL has designated hitter and pitchers don't have to bat

NL does t have DH and pitchers have to bat

Roster expands to 40 men. Good teams aren't affected by DH or no DH.
Cubs are an NL team that could roll a full line up and put Schwarber, Soler, La Stella, And less likely Contreras or maybe Almora.
I actually think the Cubs have an advantage. Schwarber and Soler and mostly valuable because of their bats.