MLB Power Rankings: The 10 Most Annoying Things in Baseball

Do you ever find yourself getting annoyed at certain things that baseball players, teams and fans tend to do? If so, you aren't alone. 

Because the sport is so old and has such a storied history, change is hard to come by. That creates certain rules and traditions that are really...well...annoying. 

The All-Star Game, or the Midsummer Classic as it is commonly referred to, has come and gone. Now, the second half of the lengthy season is starting up again. What better time to look at these annoyances?

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not hating on baseball itself, just some aspects of the game. 

Read on for the 10 most annoying things in baseball. 

Adam Fromal is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter:   @Fromal09.

10. Lack of Instant Replay

There is no better example for the need for instant replay in baseball than the unfortunate events of Armando Gallaraga and Jim Joyce. 

With one out left and a perfect game on the line, Joyce accidentally created history by ruling what should have been the final out of perfection safe at first. The falling out was tremendous, but fortunately Joyce and Gallaraga bonded over the experience and created an uplifting aftermath for everyone. 

How different would this have been if there was an umpire watching the live television feed who could radio down and say, "Hey Jim, you blew that one. Let's reverse it."

It wouldn't be that hard at all. Foul balls, home runs, tag outs and more could all be easily checked with an instant replay. 

But there isn't one. 

9. Giving Awards Based on Reputation Alone

I'm going to pick on our most recent Mr. 3000 here for a second. 

Derek Jeter wins Gold Glove after Gold Glove because he has somehow developed a reputation for being a great defensive short stop when in reality he's much more immobile and simply doesn't make mistakes because he doesn't try to make plays that someone like Elvis Andrus would try. 

In fact, Jeter has a career UZR of -43.4. He's only had two seasons in the positives since the statistic was first tracked in 2002.

But somehow, Jeter has five Gold Gloves.

Please people, vote for players because of their actual merits and not because of the name on the back of their jerseys.  

8. Rain Delays

When the skies open up and tiny droplets start falling from the heavens, both players and fans alike get annoyed. 

For the players, they have to warm up yet again and all momentum garnered during the game is killed. Imagine a starting pitcher that has just thrown four scoreless innings but then gets cold after an hour-long rain delay. 

As for the fans, we all know why rain delays are annoying. We can't watch baseball!

7. Blindly Denying Usefulness of Sabermetrics

Stats like WAR, FIP, xFIP, BABIP and more exist for a reason. They're actually helpful in furthering our understanding of the game. 

I'm not trying to suggest that you can make baseball into a game represented purely by numbers. Of course there is still something to be gained from watching the name. The advanced metrics merely help us see what we're observing in a much clearer light. 

In my experience with the anti-sabermetrics crowd, most of the people that reject the stats don't have a good grasp on what they really mean. If you're going to bash something, at least understand it first. 

Please?

6. Payroll Disparity

Isn't this one kind of obvious?

How are the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland As, Kansas City Royals and the rest of the small-market teams expected to compete with the payroll behemoths each and every year? There simply isn't enough money for them to do so. 

Sure, guys like Billy Beane can exploit the inefficiencies of the baseball market and have a successful run or two, but eventually the league catches up to speed and the strategy is rendered ineffective. 

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox on the other hand can simply reload and buy a contender no matter what. 

How exactly is that fair? 

5. Obnoxious Fan Behavior

Okay a couple ground rules for fans:

1. Don't interfere with the play on the field. 

2. Don't get ridiculously drunk and cause a scene. 

3. Please don't start the wave at any point. 

4. Don't steal a foul ball from a little kid whose day would be made if he caught it.

5. Just be courteous. It's not that hard. 

Violate any of these rules (which happens quite a lot) and you're just being annoying. 

4. RBIs vs. RBI

I'm not even going to get into how RBI are a stupid stat here. Just take my word for it and ask in the comments section or my inbox if you're really curious why. 

But it annoys the hell out of me when people say "So and so had four RBIs in that game!" 

Really? They had four Run Batted Ins? Ummm, no they didn't. 

If one RBI stands for one Run Batted In, then how in the world do you get RBIs as the plural form?

RBI is plural for RBI because Runs Batted In is the correct plural. 

You will sound much more intelligent if you don't get this wrong. And you won't annoy me. 

3. The Concept of Saves

Saves are one part of baseball that I've never really understood. 

Let's set up two hypothetical situations:

1. Your team is up 5-4 with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the opponents are up to bat. The bases are loaded. 

2. Your team is up 7-4 with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the opponents are up to bat. No one is on base. 

Obviously situation one is the higher leverage situation. It's going to be much tougher for your team to escape with a lead there. 

Now, remember that the designated closer is supposed to be the most dominant relief pitcher on the team, one who's capable of slamming the door shut on the other team. 

Remind me again why you don't want your best pitcher escaping the tougher jam instead of closing out the game when a mediocre reliever could easily get that second job done? 

2. Wins and Quality Starts

These two stats associated with pitchers are two of the most annoying ones in the game. 

Wins

Evaluating pitchers based on how many wins they've produced for their teams in pretty stupid if it's the only thing you look at. CC Sabathia may have the lead in the category, but he's by no means been the most dominant pitcher in the MLB, he just has the benefit of having a Yankees offense to support him. 

Remember when Zack Greinke was dominating for the Kansas City Royals but didn't get much Cy Young consideration because he struggled to reach the 10-win landmark? 

Wins are a good benchmark when evaluating a pitcher, but you cannot allow them to be the be-all, end-all of that evaluation. 

Quality Starts

For those of you that don't know, a quality start is when a pitcher throws six or more innings and allows three earned runs or less. 

By that definition, Pitcher A, who throws six innings and allows three earned runs, earns a quality start. Pitcher B, who throws a complete game but allows four earned runs, does not. 

Pitcher A's ERA for the game is 4.50. Pitcher B's ERA for the game is 4.00. 

Huh?

1. The All-Star Game Rosters

Isn't being named an All-Star supposed to mean something? 

It used to at least, but this season we saw an unprecedented 84 players named to their respective league's squad. Why was that?

Well, the Midsummer Classic seems to have lost its luster. Players are deciding to skip it either for injuries or personal reasons and replacements have to be found. Also, for some reason, each and every team has to have at least one representative. 

If one team absolutely stinks and doesn't have a single All-Star-caliber player, why should they be handed one berth on the prestigious team's roster?

Personally, I like Bill Simmons' idea best. The Red Sox fan recently tweeted: "My MLB All-Star Game idea: We name the rosters... those are the rosters. That's it. Anyone who bows out screws their league over."

It might restore some meaning to the title of All-Star. 

Adam Fromal is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter:   @Fromal09.