Brewers: Too Early To Judge The New Extra Innings Rule

The Brewers pulled out a victory on Monday against the Pirates with a little help from a new rule in place for 2020.

When MLB decided to put a rule into effect that stated a runner will be placed at second base to begin every extra inning in 2020, many were upset. Many baseball fans, and not just the purists, viewed this change as a way to cheapen the game and that it doesn’t seem like real baseball.

Nevertheless, here we are. The rule is in place and the Brewers got to see it play out first hand on Monday night after a four run comeback in the 9th inning against the Pirates.

So what do we think of it?

The Extra Inning Rule In Practice

The player who was last up becomes the runner at second base to start the next inning, unless a pinch runner is used. Omar Narvaez started out there in the 10th inning.

While many fans might have assumed that the first batter of the inning would simply lay down a sacrifice bunt to get the runner over to third with one out and then bring him home on a sac fly.

We thought bunting would be all over extra innings with this rule.

That actually didn’t happen. In the four half-innings with the runner starting on second, neither the Brewers nor the Pirates had a single batter successfully bunt up at the plate. Jarrod Dyson attempted to, but struck out.

Eric Sogard, who would probably be a logical candidate to have bunt in a situation where there’s a runner in scoring position and nobody out, instead lined a double into the LF corner to bring home Brock Holt.

Changing The Narrative?

Despite most baseball fans opposing the idea of starting a runner on second base in extra innings, now that we’ve seen it in action, could fans come around on it?

I’m not entirely sold.

Brewers fans are going to be supportive of the rule in the short term since it worked out in the Crew’s favor in this instance.

However, if the next time the Brewers go into extra innings the game doesn’t go the Brewers way, then many of the same fans who enjoyed the rule on Monday night would probably be cursing the rule that night.

Response to this new rule is probably going to go back and forth throughout the season.

It’s still too early to make a full determination on this new rule. One game where things went the Brewers way is not enough to judge whether this rule is something that should be kept moving forward.

Personally, I still feel that this new rule is not good for the game and should not remain a permanent rule after the 2020 season. Regardless of how long it takes, any run scored should be earned honestly and the possibilities of just two-batter innings with three outs just doesn’t sit well with me.

The Brewers got a little bit of life in their offense with this rule, and hopefully they can keep that life in the first nine innings of games moving forward.