Will Rule 7.13 impact postseason?

— -- Major League Baseball catchers have endured their fair share of injuries this season, from Russell Martin's strained hamstring in May to Matt Wieters' season-ending Tommy John surgery to Yadier Molina's torn thumb ligament that sent him to the disabled list for seven weeks after the All-Star break. Catching is a demanding job, and distressing MRI results are an inevitable part of the equation.

But a quick inventory of the 2014 carnage appears to show that catchers are less likely to miss time after being steamrolled, Pete Rose'd or otherwise sent hurtling from the vicinity of home plate. As Joe Torre routinely points out in his role as the game's executive vice president of baseball operations, MLB made major strides this year protecting catchers from "egregious" injuries like the one that threatened to end Buster Posey's career after a home plate collision with Scott Cousins in 2011.

If that agenda has produced some collateral damage in the form of confusion and hard feelings, that's a natural byproduct of what baseball considers progress.