Baseball’s Fight With Fatigue

[SoxJox]

Short, but interesting article in the WSJ regarding player fatigue.
 
Crux is how players do better survive a 162-game season, pointing out that last year less than 9% of position players played in 150 or more games.  That is the lowest such percentage in major league history, according to FanGraphs.
 
Also, a 2012 study showed that hitters' strike zone judgment becomes significantly worse the later it gets into the season.
 
Some teams are taking measures - particularly the Florida Marlins, but the article acknowledges that getting players, who in many cases serve as their own worst enemies, to change their routines will be a hard road to hoe.
 
 

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

Well, Manfred says he'd be willing to consider a return to the 154-game season. 

 

[Koufax]

Long overdue.  With the extended playoffs, the season is brutally long. 

 

[Rasputin]

I wish it were longer. I also think teams should pay longer series to reduce travel, schedule some doubleheaders, and have two three day breaks in the schedule other than the all star game.

 

[charlieoscar]

I wish it were longer. I also think teams should pay longer series to reduce travel, schedule some doubleheaders, and have two three day breaks in the schedule other than the all star game.

 
In the earlier days of the PCL teams would have series as long as seven games.

 

[Hagios]

Good article. I was struck by the mention of the ban on amphetamines in 2006. I wonder if this is the reason why 30+ players go into such steep declines. They need the amphetamines more than the young guys.

I'm sure this is old news to most posters, but I had to look it up. Apparently the Red Sox have a JetBlue Airbus 320 that they use as their charter, so they've got that covered.

edit: nb: No, baseball does not have a fake ADHD epidemic

 

[grimshaw]

I wish they'd have a flex spot or two like in hockey for general maintenance type days.
If you can expand your roster in September, you ought to have that option to a lesser degree year round.
It's basically 15 extra players for 1 month vs 2-3 players for 6.

 

[dynomite]

I wouldn't really mind going back to the 154 game season, I suppose*, but I can't imagine the owners would be thrilled about losing 5% of their home games. (Would commercials be lengthened and ticket prices increased accordingly?)

* Especially when someone like Uehara threw 74 IP in the 2013 regular season and another 13.2 in the postseason. Worth it, obviously, but I think that might have contributed to his slowing down in 2014.

 

[Rasputin]

 
In the earlier days of the PCL teams would have series as long as seven games.

That seems kind of long. I argue for a five game series so you go through the rotation once. Instead of making three trips to an in division opponent, you make two. Instead of playing a three game series at each park for our of division opponents, you play one and alternate years.

You'd have to adjust a few things but I think the players would love less travel.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

154 works SO well.
 
8 Home + 8 road against your division = 64
3 home and 3 road against the other two divisions = 60
3 home and 3 road against a rotating other league division = 30

 

[dynomite]

Also, in the vein of fatigue, I think they should consider re-expanding rosters to 28 players, as they were from 1958-1967 (even 26-27 would be an improvement). They could then force teams to maintain rosters of this size in September (you could designate your "28 man roster" every day in September based upon the larger set of 40 players) so the rules wouldn't suddenly change in September.

 

[VORP Speed]

Also, in the vein of fatigue, I think they should consider re-expanding rosters to 28 players, as they were from 1958-1967 (even 26-27 would be an improvement). They could then force teams to maintain rosters of this size in September (you could designate your "28 man roster" every day in September based upon the larger set of 40 players) so the rules wouldn't suddenly change in September.

Teams would just add 3 more pitchers and there would be even more specialized relief and more pitching changes

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

154 is not a number handed down from the gods.
 
It was well-suited to a balanced schedule in 8 team leagues. You played each opponent 22 times. Using that number for the regular season in a single 30-team "league" with 2 "conferences" playing an unbalanced schedule (and don't get me started on "natural rivalries") is just bizarre.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

154 works SO well.
 
8 Home + 8 road against your division = 64
3 home and 3 road against the other two divisions = 60
3 home and 3 road against a rotating other league division = 30

 
Will the players currently under contract take a pay cut? Because ticket, beer, and TV revenue will be going down if you shorten the season.

 

[Harry Hooper]

 
Will the players currently under contract take a pay cut? Because ticket, beer, and TV revenue will be going down if you shorten the season.

 
Plus, the inevitable expansion will throw the neat 154 out of whack.

 

[charlieoscar]

If they add two more teams through expansion, then they can have four 8-team divisions (either separate or 2 AL, 2NL), which would lend themselves to a 154-game schedule. What they lose in regular season can be made up in post-season.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

If they did 4 8 team divisions, they'd have to change the playoff format. Best WC team avoids the play in game I guess.

 

[8slim]

On Buster Olney's podcast the other day he had an item that the Pirates have been studying how the Golden State Warriors are limiting the minutes of its players during the regular season. The Pirates explained that they don't know yet what their findings or conclusions might be, but that they're interested in learning methods to keep players rested and fresh throughout a long season.

I found it interesting.

 

[tims4wins]

I really like the idea of a taxi squad - even just one positional player. So on any given day you could de-activate one positional player and have his spot replaced with another positional player. You could give full days off to that one player and not be worried about the consequences of an extra inning game with multiple subs.

 

[BigJimEd]

Taxi squad would be nice but not sure very effective. How often would sometime like Peoria sit compared to before? Would he still show up at the park?

I think reducing travel would have a greater effect on fatigue.
Maybe an increase of off days as well with trying to get teams occasional back to back days off.


Another idea might be a 3 day "rest" DL. Player wouldn't need to be injured to go on it but teams could only have one or maybe two on it at a time and each player could only go on it one or twice a season. Player not allowed to practice or be in dugout. Basically keep the player away and get rest.


Edit: 3 day DL could also be used when players are trying to fight through minor injuries. Now teams can sit them without worrying about playing short for a couple days.

 

[grimshaw]

I think reducing travel would have a greater effect on fatigue.
Maybe an increase of off days as well with trying to get teams occasional back to back days off.
 

I think that's the biggest issue as well.  You can be in the best shape of your life, but taking red eyes, getting little sleep, and having frequent time changes is going to wear you down.
It's even tougher for teams like Colorado and Arizona who play 45% of their games in a different time zone.
I think they are already leaning the way of adding roster spots because of the recent double header rule change.
 
Unless they go the 154 (which seems like a great idea) game route, I don't see many more off days they can add without the season being even longer, aside from scheduled doubleheaders.

 

[8slim]

If travel is the big concern they could always realign into Eastern and Western conferences.  I mean teams in the Eastern Conference, Atlantic Division of the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Orioles and Nationals could pretty much stick to traveling by Acela for most of the season.  

 

[SoxJox]

FanGraphs produced a summary in 2011 with retrosheet data that shows the number of air miles logged by teams on average over the preceding 7 years.
 
The average is around 33,000 miles per year and a sub-category of "back-to-back" average of almost 20,000 miles per year.  They defined back-back as travel with no travel day between games (i.e., traveling on the same day either before or after a game was played).
 
It's interesting to note the team logging the most miles (Seattle - 49,007) travels nearly twice as much as the lowest team (Milwaukee - 25,341).

 

[grimshaw]

Ya - Seattle is shit out of luck with Texas and Houston in their division now.  That's 6 total road trips there, compared to just 2 for the Red Sox.
They could really use another Northwest and Mountain time team to make it 32.

 

[67WasBest]

On Buster Olney's podcast the other day he had an item that the Pirates have been studying how the Golden State Warriors are limiting the minutes of its players during the regular season. The Pirates explained that they don't know yet what their findings or conclusions might be, but that they're interested in learning methods to keep players rested and fresh throughout a long season.

I found it interesting.

BC and Farrell have both spoken of the research the team's conducting on player fatigue.  Both have mentioned travel studies, and neither offered any further insight to their research.  I'd think one facet of the research would be to have, or establish a set of biometric values, and when a player shows these values, it's time to shut them down  Some might call it the ghost injury, but if they possess data, indicating failure is imminent when these metrics are reached, no one's going to question their sincerity.  They may additionally have, or be collecting data indicating when a player may need a day off because the metrics point to poor performance; which again would indicate a need for a very deep roster.

 

[geoduck no quahog]

...I'm sure this is old news to most posters, but I had to look it up. Apparently the Red Sox have a JetBlue Airbus 320 that they use as their charter, so they've got that covered.

 
Well that explains a lot. They're probably sitting for 6 hours before each flight waiting for boarding and take-off.
 
I guess at some point baseball may get away from the AL/NL system and mimic basketball alignments to reduce travel:
 
Red Sox - Mets - Yankees - Blue Jays - Phillies
White Sox - Cubs - Indians - Tigers - Brewers
Braves - Rays - Marlins - Nationals - Orioles
 
Astros - Rangers - Cardinals - Reds - Pirates
Rockies - Twins - Royals - Diamondbacks - Padres
Mariners - A's - Giants - Dodgers - Angels
 
or something like that.
 
Alternatively, they could just wait for a passenger version of the HTV-2 and fly from NY to LA in 12 minutes.

 

[charlieoscar]

FanGraphs produced a summary in 2011 with retrosheet data that shows the number of air miles logged by teams on average over the preceding 7 years.
 
The average is around 33,000 miles per year and a sub-category of "back-to-back" average of almost 20,000 miles per year.  They defined back-back as travel with no travel day between games (i.e., traveling on the same day either before or after a game was played).
 
It's interesting to note the team logging the most miles (Seattle - 49,007) travels nearly twice as much as the lowest team (Milwaukee - 25,341).

 
The estimated distances traveled by the League Clubs in completing their championship schedule games in 1884 was as follows:
 
 
[tablegrid= 1885 Spalding's Base Ball Guide: Base Ball Traveling ]National Lg. Nbr. Miles Traveled Longest Jump Chicagos 7,482 1,038 Bostons   7,148 1,038 Providences 6,648 735 Philadelphias 6,617 822 New Yorks 6,465 912 Detroits 6,383 715 Clevelands 5,876 682 Buffalos 5,516 912       American Assoc. Nbr. Miles Traveled Longest Jump Brooklyns 8,564 1,055 Metropolitains 8,497 883 St. Louis 8,438 944 Toledos 8,030 719 Athletics 7,685 1,065 Cincinnatis 7,389 757 Baltimores 7,123 689 Columbus 6,862 638 Louisvilles 6,795 883 Alleghenys 6,703 444 Indianapolis 6,523 825 Washingtons 6,265 904 [/tablegrid] 

 

[Dahabenzapple2]

I'm very curious what the mode of transporation was for a baseball club in 1884.
 
 

 

[Dahabenzapple2]

After thinking about it for bit, big steam engine trains came to mind........

 

[Homar]

I'm sure that all of this is a factor, especially the travel.  But there's simple math here too.  A baseball season is 26 weeks, give or take.  In 26 weeks, the average American worker gets 52 days off, just with weekends.  We also earn vacation days, personal days and sick days.  Now I know that some folks have to work two jobs, and work pursues us into our weekends, sometimes as a regular course.  But at least in theory, we'd get 50+ days off.  Baseball players, as Josh Beckett famously reiterated, get 18.  Eighteen days over six months.  My job requires nothing of me physically, but if I averaged less than a day off from work each week, it would be terribly hard to be at my best.  I think that the baseball season is grind that takes an increasing toll on a player: body, mind, spirit, and relationships.  I know they're paid a lot of money.  I know that they get six months away from the game (though not from training for it).  And I know that announcers spout the cliches about resting in November every time someone's tired in October.  But the truth is that it's a grind.  Throw in travel, and it's even worse.  What would be the harm in giving players personal days every now and again?  Mental health days?  I know they've never done it that way, and you're supposed to be there rooting for your team and all, but sometimes the best thing you can do for your productivity is to shut down for a bit.  Might that not be true in baseball, too?