PointsBall™

Make baseball exciting again.
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I had an idea a while back, while spending evening after evening at the local baseball diamond, to increase the watchability of baseball games to increase the excite for for players and spectators alike. My idea, which I have named PointsBall™ aims at livening up those games that are particularly long and boring. Instead of implementing a shot clock to transform long & boring games into short & boring games, the goal of PointsBall™, is to make the outcome of each game a variable that is difficult to predict, and the winner of which can change at any moment.

Here are the two elements PointsBall™ is structured upon.

Two elements:

  1. Dynamic Run Counts: runs are worth more the further you are from scoring at the beginning of the bat.

    • after crossing home plate, a runner earns one point for each new base they touch as a result of the current bat
    • score from 3rd? 1pt; from 2nd? 2pt; 1st? 3pt; a homerun is worth 4pt
    • a Grand Slam is no longer worth 4pt, but 10pt(!) (4+3+2+1)
    • teams are rewarded for more work (running)
    • a home run is now worth more than a sacrifice fly which brings in a runner on 3rd base

  2. Inning Factor: a multiplier is applied to runs scored within a given inning to assign greater value to runs scored later in the game.

    • a home run in the 1st inning becomes worth less than one in the 9th
    • under current scoring rules, a home run in the 1st would be worth 1pt, while in the 9th it would be worth 9pt(!)
    • combined with my #1 idea above, a home run in the 1st would be worth 4pt, while in the 9th it would be worth 36pt(!) (4x9)
    • this rule/scoring change could make for some wild game decisions and come from behind game-changing wins

Each element could be implemented independently from the other, or together.

A work in progress.

History

Some loose thoughts on how the initial idea for PointsBall™ came to be.

  • 2022 attended lots of local baseball; season tickets
  • 2023 continued watching local ball; some road games
  • I enjoy the social aspect of sports but I could care less about baseball iteslf because it's standstill boring and often won/lost by individual players
  • football (soccer) may be one of the perfect games; the length is always know, always more than enough action; pitch (field) could be shortened to increase excitement