Major League Baseball doesn't have a mercy rule. However, that's probably something that Dave Roberts, Noah Davis and the Los Angeles Dodgers were wishing was in place on Friday night as they welcomed the hated Houston Astros to the City of Angels.

Things got off the rails early for Dodgers starter Ben Casparius on Friday night when he gave up a first-pitch home run to Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes. It didn't get much better from there, though, even after limiting the damage to just two runs in the first inning. Casparius the gave up home runs to Jose Altuve and Christian Walker, both of which were two-run shots, in the third inning, which ultimately ended his night after finishing that frame. LA, for their part on offense, only managed one run.

A 6-1 score isn't pretty, but it's not that bad either. Don't worry, though, it got that much worse once the Dodgers turned to the bullpen. After Jack Dreyer seemingly stopped the bleeding with just one run allowed over 1.2 innings, Davis came into the game — and got absolutely destroyed. He gave up six hits, three walks and an eye-popping 10 earned runs in just 1.1 innings of work, pushing the Astros lead to 17-1 after just six innings.

Naturally, Houston added another in the seventh inning, all while still holding the rival Dodgers to just one run. That put the score at 18-1, and fans were asking if there was a mercy rule in MLB as a result — or maybe they were just praying for it.

Of course, there isn't a mercy rule in the major leagues. There is one in some instances in college, most often on getaway days to help mitigate travel or in conference tournaments given the grueling nature of navigating through a league bracket in the postseason. However, given some of the discourse recently in MLB around position players pitching, it's at least worth a thought at some point.

Roberts and the Dodgers almost definitely agree after having to endure Friday night.

At the same time, though, especially with a team like LA that, quite infamously, has no problem putting players like Kiké Hernandez on the mound in a blowout going either way, something does need to be done in these games. I fully understand why a manager wouldn't want to burn through his bullpen in a game that's out of reach for either side. At the same time, however, it's a mockery to watch guys tee off on what is often a utility player throwing eephus pitch after eephus pitch. It also makes the games, which Rob Manfred has worked mightily to speed up, take exponentially longer to finish.

Obviously, there isn't a mercy rule coming to MLB anytime soon. All I'm saying is that maybe, when you look at games like this one, there might be more of a case to institute such a thing than most fans might think. And, at the very least, it might save a team like the Dodgers and their fans on Friday night some humiliation and pain.