TAMPA, Fla. — The days of a fixed nine-player lineup in Major League Baseball are long gone, replaced by more strategic emphasis on positional versatility that has fundamentally changed how the game is managed.

Guardians skipper Stephen Vogt explained prior to Friday’s game against the Rays why modern baseball demands players that can handle multiple positions.

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“You look at the game 10, 15 years ago, it was, you have your nine guys, they go play every day, and then you have your bench players,” Vogt said. “But what we’ve learned is, this (positional versatility) is how the g

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