Picture it: 10 years from now, two baseball teams have suffered through nine sweltering innings and the game remains at a draw. The coach has a furrowed brow — his team is in the midst of a homestand, and one of his pitchers is out for the season with Tommy John surgery. If this game goes too deep into extra innings, he risks exhausting pitchers he desperately needs in the upcoming contests.
According to Ronald Blum with CBC Sports, Major League Baseball will experiment during spring training and the All-Star Game with a rule designed not only to help coaches in these situations but to also ensure games finish sooner.
If a game goes into extra innings, a runner will be placed on second base at the outset of the inning. A well-executed bunt and a single can end the game with only one extra inning played. This is mightily convenient for managers and coaches. 
There is only one problem: the fans. A fine line exists between making the game faster (a top priority in an American media landscape increasingly populated by viewers with shortened attention spans) and changing the game itself.
Victor Mather with The New York Times reports disdain among many MLB fans. Old-time purists demarcate this border, and they have proved to be difficult to appease on some so-called “innovations.” They take a certain pride in the fact baseball is the only professional sport to be played without a clock. If some games go for three hours and some four, well, it is just the way the game is played. According to them, it is just unseemly to give teams an unearned runner on second base. After all, nothing in life is free; why should baseball be different?
I tend to lean on the side of the adoring public in this case.
At the highest level of competition, each team has a multitude of minor league teams from which they are able to draw upon for more players. Furthermore, the trade deadline for Major League Baseball is not until July 31 and teams can still swap for postseason-eligible players until Aug. 31 with waivers. A myriad of opportunities exists for these teams.
On the other hand, I would not mind testing the rule out at the college level. For example, if a pitcher here at Mississippi State University gets injured, head coach Andy Cannizaro does not have the capability to trade with another SEC team to acquire another player. Another conundrum at this level is many players are not superstars with million dollar contracts yet.
The NCAA is the testing-ground for these players, the trial-by-fire eliminates all but the very best. Because there is no fallback at this level, if a pitcher blows out his arm here, his path to success becomes much harder than an established player at the major league level.
The same risks apply at the college level. It may become apparent baseball loses its luster when players are allowed to be placed in scoring position “for free.” However, I suspect at the college level, this rule will significantly reduce the pressure on pitchers and coaches.
Sometimes the public’s approval in the short term must be sacrificed for a greater selection of skilled players in the long term.