I’ll be honest.
When Major League Baseball decided to extend last season’s rule of starting extra innings with a runner on second base, I was skeptical.
I loved the rule last year, because last year was weird anyway.
It was like college: a great time to experiment and try new things.
But in a normal, 162-game season, I thought it would feel out of place.
That changed on Thursday.
The Brewers, of course, erased a 3-run 9th inning deficit to force extras against the Twins on Opening Day.
In the top of the 10th, the Twins trotter their speedster, Andrelton Simmons, out to second base.
He advanced to third on a wild pitch from Josh Hader.
But Hader’s electric stuff was able to hold him at third and retire the side.
Then came the Brewers, who were able to get their speedster, Lorenzo Cain, home on an infield dribbler off the bat of Orlando Arcia.
We got high pressure situations.
We got top-notch execution.
We got drama.
We got a walk-off.
Having runners start the inning on second took nothing away from the end of the game.
I’d argue it added drama.
And most importantly, a 4 hour and 14 minute game didn’t turn into a 6 hour fiasco.