By Matthew Demeke
Apr 28, 2021
The Pioneer Baseball League, one of several independent leagues designated this past offseason as an official “Partner League” of Major League Baseball, announced this morning some exciting new rules changes in effect for the 2021 season including a home run derby that would take place of extra innings.
To avoid the excessive strain on our pitching staffs, the Pioneer Baseball League will not have extra innings, but rather will employ a first-of-its kind Knock Out rule that resolves tied games with head-tohead, sudden death home run duel. Under the rule, each team designates a hitter who receives 5 pitches, with the game determined by the most home runs hit. If still tied after the first Knock Out round, another hitter is selected for a sudden-death home run face-off until a winner is declared.
Minor league baseball team will replace extra innings with homerun derbies krbe.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from krbe.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
April 28, 2021
The idea has long been a refrain for both proponents and critics of extra-innings baseball, though often voiced with tongue in cheek: instead of drawing out contests to 10 or 12 or 17 wearying innings, or starting each extra frame with a runner on second base, why not just settle the matter via a home run derby? This year, as the affiliated minor and independent leagues implement a variety of experimental rules, the Pioneer League will do just that. The “Knock Out” rule, as the league is calling it, is just one change from among a slate that should garner the league some attention though that doesn’t mean it’s coming to major league ballparks anytime soon.
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The Pioneer Baseball League, one of several independent leagues designated this past offseason as an official “Partner League” of Major League Baseball, announced this morning that it will install a series of rule changes for the upcoming 2021 season. The PBL will test out the usage of designated pinch-hitters and pinch-runners, and on a larger scale, the use of a sudden-death “Knock Out” format to resolve games that end in nine-inning ties (i.e., a home run derby format supplanting the traditional extra-inning format). They’ll also change the appeal process on check swings.
Per the PBL’s release, the “Knock Out” format is being implemented “to avoid excessive strain” on pitching staffs. In this new format, each team would designate one player to receive five pitches in a “sudden death home run duel.” (The release does not specify who would be throwing the pitches.) If the initial “Knock Out” round ends in a tie, each team w
OGDEN It ll be a different season for the Ogden Raptors for many reasons this year after last season was canceled due to COVID-19.
Gone are the Los Angeles Dodgers affiliation and its place in the Minor League Baseball pipeline, and gone now are extra-inning contests at Lindquist Field.
The Pioneer Baseball League announced a handful of interesting new rules coming to the league this season; among them, abandoning extra-inning affairs and replacing it with knock out, which can best be described as a sudden death home run derby between teams until a winner is crowned that evening.
League officials said the move was made to avoid any excessive strain on Pioneer League teams pitching staffs.