A bombshell headline hit the news as ESPN reported on Thursday morning that Major League Baseball is considering a number of rule changes to encourage teams to keep starting pitchers in the game longer. One potential addition down the line would be a six-inning minimum, with exceptions, for starters — a drastic limit on substitutions that the game has never seen before.
The rumor reached some members of the Phillies, a team led by its starting rotation for much of this season, by Thursday afternoon. Carlos Estévez showed Tyler Phillips, a rookie starter in Philadelphia to eat up innings as Ranger Suárez recovers from a sore back, the report in the clubhouse before the pitchers headed out to the field at Citizens Bank Park for a workout.