MLB 2023 Preview: Pitch Clock and Other New Rules Aim to Speed Game Up
Yet discounting the pandemic-influenced seasons of 2020 and 2021, attendance has fallen steadily since 2015, and last year’s average was the lowest since 1996, which had come in the wake of the 1994 strike. The sixth game of the last World Series, between Philadelphia and Houston, attracted 12.5 million viewers, the fewest ever for a decisive game in prime time.
All about action. Major League Baseball is implementing some of the biggest changes in the sport’s history in an effort to speed up the game and inject more activity. Here’s a look at some of the new rules taking effect this season:
Pitch clock. The biggest change is the creation of a pitch clock. Pitchers will have 15 seconds to begin their motion with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on. If they don’t, they will be assessed a ball. Batters not in the box by the eight-second mark will receive a strike.
More pace-of-play changes. A pitcher is limited to two disengagements, such as a pickoff attempt or step-off, per plate appearance. A third will result in a balk. There will be a 30-second clock between batters and a 2-minute-15-second inning break during regular-season games.
Defensive shift ban. All four infielders must have both feet on the infield dirt or grass when the pitcher begins his motion, and each team must have two infielders on each side of second base. A violation results in a ball, or the batting team can let the play stand.
Bigger bases. With the goal of decreasing collisions at first base and stimulating more infield hits and stolen bases, all three bases were increased to 18 inches square from 15. That will reduce the distance between first and second base, and second and third, by 4.5 inches.
Why make these changes? Baseball has been criticized for having long games without enough action. In 2021, an average game set a record at 3 hours 11 minutes — the average was 2 hours 44 minutes in 1985. Hits per game were near historic lows while strikeouts were higher than ever.
Will the new rules work? M.L.B. found that the use of a pitch clock in the minors shortened the average game by 25 minutes. Overall, the league saw a slight increase in batting average, a larger one in stolen base attempts, a notable decrease in injuries and a smaller decrease in strikeouts.
Rule changes alone will not fix everything, and much of baseball’s quirky charm — the pitch-by-pitch rhythms, the absence of timed quarters or periods — will always remain. But it cannot hurt to have more stuff going on and less waiting around.
“Going up there when you’re hitting, you’ve just got to get up there and go,” said Manny Machado, the star third baseman for the San Diego Padres, who added that the adjustments would be worth it. “It’s going to be cool to see more offense, more first-to-third, more runs are probably going to be scored. But then you’re also going to see some pretty good defense.”
Pitchers have 15 seconds to start their delivery with the bases empty, and 20 seconds with a runner on base. Batters must be looking at the pitcher with eight seconds left on the clock; Machado failed to do this in the first exhibition game of spring training and was called for an automatic strike.
Yet that game, against the Seattle Mariners, was completed in 2 hours 29 minutes, and the average time of spring training games, through Wednesday, was 2:35 — 26 minutes faster than last spring. Stolen base attempts were up to 3.1 per 100 plate appearances, from 2.1, and so was the success rate, which was 77.2 percent compared with last year’s 71.3.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/sports/baseball/rob-manfred-mlb-new-rules.html