SHOULD STARTING pitchers be required to work six innings? (Shutterstock)

Baseball, struggling to keep up after years of being static while other sports zoomed past it in fan appeal, has started making big changes in an effort to catch up.

This season, MLB has put into place several rules changes, including time limits on pitchers and batters, bigger bases, curbs on defensive shifts and more.

The latest idea being floated involves how much time – how many innings – a starting pitcher should work.

In days of old – about 10 years ago – starting pitchers were expected to be on the mound for as long as they were doing well, or – at least – Ok.

The starter might go, say, seven innings, followed by a middle reliever who was in for two innings, and then the “closer,” usually a fireballer capable of striking out the side.

But the New Normal is nothing like that. In many cases, a team will begin with an “opener,” who is only expected to throw for an inning or two. After that comes one expected to go for four or five innings, followed by as many relievers as a team has in its bullpen. The result is that in many games, a manager might throw 10 hurlers into the mix of a single contest.

So why does MLB care about that? One reason is that it slows the game down, all that pitcher-switchering.  Another is that it requires more pitchers on the roster, limiting the number of position players, the fellas who score runs.

The bigwigs seem to feel that a 10-9 slugfest has more fan appeal than a 2-1 squeaker, and they are probably right.

Being floated now is a requirement that a starting pitcher – presumably barring being struck by lightning or a six-homer barrage – would have to last for six innings. That would likely speed up the game. And let’s face it, a tiring pitcher might be expected to give up more hits, runs and walks.

Of course, the problem with scoring or game speed might be more systemic. Maybe there’s not really enough true big league talent to fill out the rosters of 30 teams? Maybe the trend of African American athletes toward football and basketball is shrinking the talent pool? Perhaps too many one-time Little League star hurlers find that their arms burn out from overuse just a few years into reaching “The Show”?

It’s nice that the folks in the commish’s office are thinking “outside the box.”  I’m just not sure that this isn’t an idea bound to curve foul, if you know what I mean.

You want teams to make their pitchers stay in longer? Limit their numbers on the roster. If they run out of hurlers, make one of the catchers go out to the mound.

Now, that would be entertaining.