A Look at Major League Baseball's Many Changes as the Lockout Ends

It's over. The latest Major League Baseball lockout finally came to an end just one day short of the 100-day mark, with a tentative CBA agreement. The collateral damage was minimal; spring training was lost, and Opening Day ended up pushed back a week--from March 31 to April 7. Despite the later start, a full 162-game season is the plan, with the regular season set to end on October 2, 2022. This work stoppage is the first one since 1994, and that one saw the remainder of that season canceled, as well as that year's postseason and World Series. It also resulted in the 1995 season starting late and containing 144 games, and that season ended with the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series.

The agreement comes with a number of changes to the game, which should make each season very interesting. They are as follows:

The Universal DH

From this point on, the National League will carry a designated hitter in their lineups...permanently. The DH position was instilled into the American League in 1973, making the 2022 season the 50th anniversary of the position's debut. The National League received the option of taking the DH back then, but decided to maintain the traditional lineup of having eight positioned batters and the pitcher batting (usually) ninth. In the near five decades that have passed, it has been stated that the DH had drastically changed the game, as that spot usually goes to power hitters and makes the American League more offense-minded than the small-ball and pitching-focused style of the National League.

The DH wasn't used in the World Series until 1976, and it was universal in even-numbered years until 1986, where they only used the DH in World Series games hosted by the American League. When interleague play began in 1997, the latter rules applied: games in American League ballparks used the DH, games in National League ballparks did not. The universal DH was actually used in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but traditional rules returned in 2021.

No More "Ghost Runners" (UPDATED)

The (rightfully) maligned "runner on 2nd base" rule for regular season extra inning games is no more. In the 2020 and 2021 seasons, MLB utilized a change to extra inning games with the rule that every extra inning would start with a runner on 2nd base, usually referred to as the "ghost runner." The "ghost runner" was usually the batter who served as the last out of his team's half of the ninth inning, and the rule was done as part of MLB's attempt to shorten games, but it ultimately failed. Statistics showed that even with the "ghost runner" rule, games were longer than they were prior to the rule.

The rule has been insulted and bashed by many baseball fans, with many saying that the rule isn't "real baseball." A lot of teams have blamed the rule for extra inning losses, and it had decreased the anticipation of extra innings. It was the only thing in sports that got maligned more than the shootout in the NHL.

UPDATE: On March 22, 2022, MLB announced that the "ghost runner" rule would return for the 2022 season only.

9-Inning Doubleheader Games Are Back

Doubleheader games will be the full nine innings again, thank goodness. I never liked the seven-inning doubleheader games. This was another rule instilled in the shortened 2020 season, and carried over in 2021, and it was done to make things easier for the players, but there were problems. For one, it didn't seem like a full game, with two of them meaning that 14 innings would be played, which is just over a game and a half. Another problem is one that really annoyed me: the no-hitter controversy.

Early in the 2o21 season, Arizona Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner tossed a no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves. But here's the thing: it didn't count as one. It went down as a complete-game shutout because he pitched the full seven innings, but despite the fact that he didn't give up a single hit, it's not a no-hitter. That makes absolutely no sense! The then-named Cleveland Indians were no-hit in such a game, but it didn't count against them. Lucky for them: if you count that seven-inning game, the Indians were actually no-hit four times in 2021!

12-team Postseason; Best-of-3 Wild Card Round

The main argument was changing the postseason format, to either 12 or 14 teams. Not counting the 2020 postseason, which featured the one-time only 16-team format, the last time the postseason format was changed was back in 2012, when MLB added a second Wild Card in each league and debuted the Wild Card Game as the opening round, with the three division winners getting byes straight to the Division Series, while the winner of the Wild Card Game would face the league's #1 seed. The current CBA deal is revealed to consist of a new 12-team postseason format, which will start in the 2022 season.

The format will feature a third Wild Card in each league, and will also extend the Wild Card round from a single game to a best-of-three series. Similar to the Wild Card Series that took place in 2020, the team with the higher seed would host all three games, and it would feature the #3 seed (the lowest division winner) hosting the #6 seed, while the #4 seed would host the #5 seed. The top two teams would receive a bye straight to the Division Series, and there would be no reseeding; #1 will face the winner of the #4-#5 series, and #2 will face the winner of the #3-#6 series. In addition, the tiebreaker games (aka "Game 163") are no more, as any and all tiebreakers will be determined internally. The format is similar to the one used by the NFL from 1990-2019.

So that's that. The lockout is over and we will have baseball in 2022. With all of the new bells and whistles added to the game, there's only two words left to say: Play ball!