For much too long Major League Baseball has disrespected its fans and the realities of the lives lived by those customers in today’s fast paced world. Playoff games that drag on past four hours or more, with absurd stoppages in play, have turned kids off and on to other sports.
Fans that spend hundreds of dollars on game tickets have to leave before the game concludes because the game drags on into the late hours of the night. These long games also hurt TV ratings as it is asking too much for fans to invest hours at a time on 162 games in a season. Finally, however, it looks like reality and a new progressive mindset are prevailing.
A much needed directive in rules changes that will hopefully bring baseball into sync with the busy lives of its customers is still lacking. MLB officials are visiting all 30 teams with definitions on the new and hopefully improved rules changes that are designed to improve game pace. Let’s a take a few pitches and look over the new rules for speeding up the national pastime.
There will be timers in all stadiums that will track commercial time for between-innings. It has now been determined that those clocks will also be used to track pitching change breaks. A reliever will have two minutes and 23 seconds got get ready from the time he leaves the bullpen to the time he arrives on the mound for local TV broadcasts. National telecasts will allow for 20 additional seconds. The reliever is expected to warm up within that time frame. At first, the timing of relievers was not expected to be a part of the new rules changes, but under the leadership of new Rob Manfred, there is a much more aggressive attitude by MLB in regards to eliminating any waste of time. This is a solid first step in the right direction and there is more to come.
More Enhancements
Players could be fined up to $500 if they are not ready to pitch or hit after the clock counts down. Batters can also be fined for stepping out of the box. Umpires are to mark such infractions on their cards, similar to an equipment violation. Habitual violators will be dealt with by league officials. One compromise win for batters is that they can still step out of the box to adjust gloves and helmet as long as one foot remains in the box.
Although managers will not always be able to signal for replay reviews from the dugout, that will still be the preferred way of doing so. Managers are still required to ask for a verbal review with the umps however.
What the world really needs, a pitch clock, is not yet going to be implemented. However pitchers will still be tracked by MLB for the length of time they take to release the ball and that info will be passed along to teams. Hopefully this is the first step towards full implementation.
MLB says that it wants to use a gradual approach so to give long time players time to adjust to the new pace. The ultimate goal is improving the game experience for fans and that is how it will be sold to the players.
These changes can do nothing but good and are a nice olive branch to frustrated fans. The pitch clock and a ban on trips to the mound would also be strong improvements to build towards in the future.
154 Games?
Commissioner Rob Manfred has not been shy about having ideas since he took over for Bud Selig. While his idea of banning shifting defenses in the infield was laughed at, and rightfully so, he has another idea that is also long overdue: Manfred said he would consider a 154-game schedule.
With football becoming even more popular both in college and the NFL, this would serve to allow for potentially more MLB playoff games. The new playoff format has proven to be highly popular and entertaining and fans would much prefer more postseason action to the drone of countless extra regular season games. Stadium and media dates that generate revenue for owners and players remain the likely stumbling block. But extra playoff revenue would likely offset that.
