The growing chorus of people who criticize the modern-day Major League Baseball product have been joined by National League Manager of the Year Don Mattingly.
The Miami Marlins manager regularly turned on the television in October after his club was eliminated in the second round of the NL playoffs, and he wasn’t enamored with what he was viewing.
“I watched a lot of the playoff games after we were eliminated and quite honestly, it was a little hard to watch,” Mattingly told reporters on a video conference call on Thursday from his offseason home in Evansville, Ind. “There was nothing going on. Strikeout, strikeout, home run. It was hard to watch. It tells me we have to find a way to make our game move.”
One of things that bothers the former American League MVP with the New York Yankees is the increasing use of the shift, where three defensive players are on one side of the field.
The 59-year-old Mattingly said the strategy might need to be regulated.
“I wouldn’t be totally against it,” Mattingly said. “It’s sad that we have to get to that, but I would not be against anything that would basically create more action and less downtime.
“You don’t want to change the core of the game. We have to be open-minded to change so it’s a product people want to see.”
Mattingly said he was fine with some of the rules instituted for the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic — like putting a runner at second base to start extra innings — as he understood the safety reasons involved.
“None of them bothered me,” Mattingly said. “A lot of them were good for the season we had last year. Seven-inning doubleheaders, for sure, were almost like a must for last season. I didn’t think I’d like the extra-inning rule. I ended up liking that.”
Mattingly was the overwhelming choice for Manager of the Year in the NL due to the Marlins overcoming 18 positive COVID-19 tests to make the playoffs with a 31-29 record. Miami beat the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the postseason before losing to the Atlanta Braves in the second.
The Marlins had gone 57-105 the previous season.
Mattingly isn’t the first high-profile baseball person to have reservations with what has happened to the sport. Theo Epstein expressed concerns and regrets after he recently stepped down as president of the Cubs.
“I take some responsibility for that because the executives, like me, who have spent a lot of time using analytics and other measures have unwittingly had a negative impact on the aesthetic value of the game and the entertainment value of the game,” Epstein said.
