Gone are the days of the rare occurrences in the odyssey that is the intentional walk. Gone are the pitchers who miss entirely on an intentional walk and allow a game-tying run to waltz in from third base. Gone are the days of a 23-year-old Miguel Cabrera looping a base hit on a poorly aimed intentional walk to score a go-ahead run.
Gone are one of the parts of baseball that make the game fun – the unknown.
This rule change is the only change proposed by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred over the next couple of years that has actually been implemented.