5-inning games, 2-out innings? Odd MLB spring look on deck

Colorado Rockies infielder Ryan McMahon figures players can find plenty to do with any extra time they could get at the end of days if spring training games don't go nine innings.

“Maybe slide out for some golf. If not, head home, hit the couch and watch some basketball right now,” McMahon said.

Or maybe even some extra batting practice.

“It could be, right? Depending on the day and depending on how things went, there’s a lot of different ways that you could go with it,” McMahon said. "The days are different every day, that’s for sure.”

Things certainly could look different when spring training games begin Sunday, with managers allowed to mutually determine in advance how many innings their teams need or want to play.

“What we’re finding is it’s going to provide some flexibility," Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “I think teams are viewing this differently. My early read on it is we’ll have some different game lengths daily, based on teams’ available pitching."

Some games may not even make it to a seventh-inning stretch, since they can be as few as five innings through March 13. Even after that, until the end of spring training, games can be scheduled for only seven innings.

“It’s a very reasonable decision by MLB to be flexible,” said White Sox skipper Tony La Russa, managing again a decade after his game with the St. Louis Cardinals, and 35 years after he was last Chicago’s skipper.

The potentially shorter spring training games, and the ability to end innings before three outs, come on the heels of 2020, when teams had to alter workouts and the season was shortened to 60 games because of the coronavirus pandemic that is still ongoing. COVID-19 health and safety protocols remain in place while Major League Baseball...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/5-inning-games-2-out-innings-Odd-MLB-spring-15983628.php