Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
This extra innings rule sucks balls. Hate it.

Starting a man at 2nd to begin each inning is a disaster. Totally perverts the game. I though they have expanded rosters exactly to accommodate the condensed schedule?

It also is terrible for the visiting team, because if they brick the top end, the home team has a guy on 2nd which they can push home fairly easily without even needing a hit. The visitors can't do the same because they don't know how many runs they'll need.
I agree with you about the rule. What I found from a betting standpoint is that when the top of the 10th starts the visiting team has increased win equity as opposed to a traditional extra inning game. The fact they have such a better probability of scoring and can do so by manufacturing the run really flips the script. I have been taking the away team when the game seems to be going to extras in the live betting. Of course, the books have shifted the live odds accordingly as well. You can still get decent odds by betting the away team in a tie game during the bottom of the ninth and take your chances it will go to extras.

If they fail to score then it is another huge pendulum swing of win equity to the home team. Basically have to pray to somehow get another shot in the 11th at that point. It reminds me somewhat of when hockey put the shootout in place. The home teams quickly realized that it was better to go first and hopefully score to put the pressure on. I don’t know if home teams would decide to do that with this rule in baseball, but it is for sure a closer call than most would have expected.