With most of this year’s rules discussions revolving around the new instant replay use and the home-plate collision rules, we can often forget that a lesser-invoked but still important rule could have an impact on the results of a game as well as those over the next few days.
While watching the beginning of the May 18 Pirates at Yankees game, I heard YES Network announcer Michael Kay remind us that the two teams have a double-header because of Friday night’s rain out. They also reminded us that each team will bring up an extra pitcher without having to drop anyone from the roster, in essence allowing each team to have a 26-man roster for the second game when the double-header occurs with less than 48 hours of notice. This is the case between the Pirates and Yankees in Yankee Stadium on Sunday.
We have not heard much about the new rule except when teams invoke it. Even then, I had not given it much thought. Since the Yankees had the chance to add a player tonight, then I paid a little more attention to it. The Yankees’ pitching staff is depleted thanks to injuries to CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda, who are both due back in late May to early June. However, Ivan Nova is out for the season thanks to Tommy John surgery. The addition of the extra player for Game 2 allows each team a little more flexibility.
The current 26-man roster rule began this season. Phil Perry of Comcast Sports Net Northeast explained the new rule on April 30. It allows each team involved in a double-header to add one extra player to the roster for the second game when the teams have had less than 48 hours of notice that a double-header will occur such as in the event of a rain out. The Pirates and Yankees will not meet again, so they have the double-dip on Sunday,
So far, all teams have called up pitchers. This move makes sense. Most games now see a multitude of relievers, so having that extra arm in the bullpen can only help. In the American League ballparks, there is little need for an extra pinch hitter anyway.
The impact mentioned above can come in different forms. It can save a bullpen from overuse, especially if the starting pitchers in both games have to exit early. The call-up can take some of the innings, get some Major League experience, and save someone else for the next day. Maybe the call-up can make a good enough impression to get a longer stint later in the season.
The 1992 Los Angeles Dodgers and then-Montreal Expos could have used the 26th man. The Dodgers and Expos had three straight double-headers from July 6-8 due to storms that rained out an entire series earlier in the season. The current rule would have allowed each team to call up a different player each day; I assume each team would have called up three different relievers — or maybe two relievers and a starter. An unidentified player criticized then-National League director Bill White for forcing the games. The player proclaimed, “I guess Bill White is not a pitcher.”
Every rule has a purpose. The 26th man rule seems to serve multiple purposes. It is a rule we hear little about but teams can, need to, and will take advantage of at every opportunity. The new replay and home-plate collision rules have had heavy scrutiny both for and against. I have yet to hear anyone speak negatively against the temporary 26-man roster.
