Major League Baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, has hoped to grow viewership by
implementing new rules in the latest bargaining agreement for the 2023 season.
Don’t look now baseball fans... big change is coming!
Okay, maybe not big change, but enough change to impact the game on a daily basis.
It’s hard for Major League Baseball fanatics to forget the dreaded off-season lockout. A period
of time which stretched 99 days, leaving many wondering if the league will ever commence
again.
Despite all the negative feelings towards the game’s recent dark time, one positive came out of
the whole thing: proposed rule changes.
For the last five years, Major League Baseball has been digging deep to find ways in which the
game can played at a quicker pace, while becoming more entertaining for the average viewer. In
order do so, the league announced the use of a brand new pitch clock system for next season.
The average duration of a game in 2021 topped out at three hours and 11 minutes – the longest in
the game’s history. The pitch clock will give pitchers 14 seconds between each delivery with no
runners on, and 19 seconds between each delivery with runners on to throw a single pitch. If they
fail to beat the clock, the batter will be awarded a ball.
This change in pace is something that league commissioner, Rob Manfred, believes is good for
the game.
“It does help in terms of the pace of the game. It does help also in terms of the way the game is
played, meaning more action,” Manfred told ABC News. “Historically, I think the game was a
little crisper the way it moved along, it had a little more action in it, more frequent balls in play,
and getting back to that form of baseball would be an improvement for us, for the players and for
the fans."
The league has experimented with the clock at various minor league levels, and has found that
games specifically at the triple-A level have been shortened by roughly 20 minutes. For a game
that’s trying to attract more viewers, what better way than to shorten the time in-between action?
One of the other ways that Major League Baseball is looking to add action, is by making the
bases larger.
First, second and third base currently measure 15 square inches. The new bases in 2023 will
increase to 18 square inches, giving players an additional 99 inches of surface area.
The hope of the sizeable change is to increase activity on the base paths.
In 2021, 2,209 bases were stolen league wide – the lowest total since 1981 (2,021) with the
exception of the shortened 2020 COVID-19 season.
League chief operations and strategy officer, Chris Marinak, believes there is also an existing
issue with players slipping off the bases when sliding.
“The current base, if you don’t hit the front of it and stop, you’re going through it,” Marinak told
the New York Post. “And this base is a little more forgiving in the sense that, if you hit the front
of it, hopefully, there’s more catch on the base. You can actually stop on the bag without
popping off. Certainly, that’s one of the ideas behind it.”
Whether it be for convenience or increased action, the change in the base size seems like it
would only have a positive effect on the game of baseball.
One of the most controversial changes in the majors was the adjustment to extras innings in
2020. With the then ongoing pandemic, Rob Manfred believed the players’ workload would
lighten if extra-inning games started with an automatic runner on second base.
Although this was implemented to help the speed of the game, it brought much disappointment
to players and fans.
Arizona Diamondbacks starter, Madison Bumgarner, voiced his displeasure with the “ghost
runner rule,” as he believes it takes away from the traditional game.
“I’m sure we’ll have a different rule in three months, maybe the next year after that,” Bumgarner
told the New York Post. “We’ll just make it up as we go. We’ll see whatever they like, the flavor
of the week. … Maybe we’ll start playing with a wiffle ball or something.”
The thought that a team can win in extra innings without recording a hit, created a feeling of
illegitimacy in the game. To avoid upset players, and taking away the potential entertainment of
an extra innings bout, the league will wisely revert back to what baseball knows best: empty
bases.
Arguably the most critical rule change coming to Major League Baseball is the banning of the
shift. Although it hasn’t been agreed on quite yet, it’s trending in that direction.
Since analytics became prominent across baseball in 2016, shifting players to either side of the
infield based on batter’s spray charts has become more common. In 2021, 31 percent of league-
wide at-bats were shifted on. The league-wide batting average was also .244, matching the
lowest total since 1972.
In order to deal with the lack of offensive production, the league has proposed the idea of
limiting two players to either side of second base. It’s quite simple: less players fielding, leads to
more offensive chances. Besides, if the league wants to increase viewership, you do it with big
hits, not routine groundouts.
As Major League Baseball battles to build viewership, there’s no certainty that the new rule
changes will help. However, continuing to make the game more enjoyable for everyday fans is a
good start.
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