The Pioneer League, formerly a Rookie league and now an independent league that’s partnered with Major League Baseball, is going to use a home run derby shootout instead of playing extra innings.
It’s awesome.
It’s perfect for the minor leagues.
It’s not perfect for the major leagues.
Minor league baseball isn’t about wins and losses, and it’s not about history, at least not in the way major league baseball is about both those things. I don’t know who won the Pioneer League last year. I don’t know who holds the league’s all-time home run record. I’d guess many who attended a Pioneer League game every summer don’t know those things either.
The point of minor league baseball is, from the fan’s perspective, to entertain. It’s supposed to be a cheap, fun day or night at the ballpark. It’s the ballpark experience without the added weight of being a meaningful major league game. If something can be done to make it more entertaining that doesn’t hinder the developmental focus or denigrate the efforts of young players trying to make it to the big leagues? Do it. Every time.
That isn’t to say that the major leagues should never have their rules changed. Some rule changes are good. It’s just to say that it’s ok if some of these tested changes become standard in the minors but never reach the majors. Some of them might be better that way.
