Baseball's Ghost Runner Is Staying

Baseball has been experimenting with a pretty big change to the rules, and the change is now permanent. From now on, every time a game goes into extra innings, a "ghost runner" will start each inning on second base, reports ESPN. The idea is to make it easier to score and thus avoid marathon games that can take a toll on pitchers, per the Athletic. The extra runner is typically called a "ghost runner," though the AP notes that he's also called a "Manfred Man" after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

The league put the rule in place during the pandemic-shortened season of 2020, and its competition committee voted Monday to make it permanent. The rule appears to have done its job: In 2019, 37 games went 13 innings or longer and eight went longer than 15 innings, note the Athletic. Last year, those numbers were 11 and 0, respectively. (More Major League Baseball stories.)