SB Nation Reacts: Your thoughts on some new MLB rules

Thursday afternoon, I posted here about several new MLB rules that will be in effect for 2022.

Today, I have results from a SB Nation Reacts survey on all four of the rules I mentioned in that article: The universal DH and the “Ohtani Rule,” the expanded rosters for the first month of the season and the “Manfred Man” in extra innings. (The survey didn’t ask about the rookie qualification that I noted the other day).

Here are the results!

This matches fairly closely with the polls I’ve done here on this topic. About two-thirds of BCB readers have voted “yes” to the universal DH. Yes, I get it. Some of you still hate it. i suspect over time, that position will soften some — especially if the Cubs wind up with a DH or two who can hit.

MLB is hoping that having this rule will encourage the development of more two-way players. That’d be nice, but Shohei Ohtani seems to be the exception that proves the rule — it’s really, really hard to be a great hitter AND a great pitcher. I hope everyone here realizes just how unusual it is for someone like Ohtani to come along. Here’s hoping he can add a Cy Young Award to his MVP.

Given the lockout and the shortened Spring Training, expanding the rosters for the first three and a half weeks was the only way to get through that period without additional injuries.

Kind of wondering about the 13 percent who voted “no” on this one.

My position on this has been clear for a long time. I like long extra-inning games because they are rare. They’re memorable to many, and definitely to me.

That said, I could live with this placed-runner “Manfred Man” if MLB would put it only in the 12th inning or later. That would mean it would happen in about 2.5 percent of all games, not very many, thus 97.5 percent of all games would end without its use. Using it starting in the 10th inning decreases that percentage to about 91 percent of all games.

Here’s hoping they either get rid of it entirely or use it only in the 12th inning or later starting in 2023.

To vote in the SB Nation Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.