It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
When the calendar flips to March, I feel like a kid in a candy store again: The NBA season starts to heat up, March Madness is quickly approaching, and of course… Baseball.
It may be the first normal Spring Training for Major League Baseball since 2019, but things are far from normal on the field. This season, MLB has introduced a number of rule changes to our beloved pastime. The most notable change? The highly controversial pitch clock. And though this rule has plenty of critics right now, I think it’s going to be great for the game.
Here are the basic rules, if you’re unfamiliar:
•With no one on base, the pitcher has 15 seconds to start his motion towards home plate, or he’ll be charged with a ball.
•With anyone on base, the pitcher has 20 seconds.
•The clock starts when the pitcher receives the ball back from the catcher.
•The hitter has to be in the box and ready to receive the pitch by the time there are eight seconds left on the clock, or he’ll be charged with a strike.
•Hitters are allowed one timeout per at-bat.
“Pace of play” has been a big issue for the sport for a number of years. The bigger issue is the need for MLB to fix their ridiculous blackout restrictions. But for MLB to attract new viewers and keep the attention of the younger generation, they needed to do something like this to bring more action.
Last year in the Minor Leagues, the average game was sped up by 25-30 minutes using these rules. And after some early season issues, everyone got along just fine with the rules, which will happen at the big league level as well. I’m not even convinced “time of game” is the biggest change of need here. It’s more about keeping things moving and keeping things interesting.
If you’re that upset over the rule, I’m going to assume you enjoyed watching hitters adjust their batting gloves 36 times per at-bat. That’s really all we’re eliminating here. Not to mention, in the 70’s and 80’s, average game times were 2:30 to 2:45, compared to 3:05 to 3:10 over the last decade. Maybe even the Yankees and Red Sox could play 3 hour games this year compared to the normal 4 1/2 we’ve grown used to.
Has the rule been perfect this Spring? Not even close. It will take some getting used to. I’m not a fan of huge moments of games being impacted, or a ball in-play being ruled dead if a pitcher was a half-second late on his delivery. But so far, there have been less than two violations per game in Spring Training, and we’re only a week into a brand new system. It will only get better for players, umpires, fans, and even broadcasts from here.
A lot of long-time fans hated the idea of the DH, inter-league play, adding playoff spots, and a number of other things that they’re probably okay with now. Give this new rule a few weeks or months, and I’m sure you’ll be okay with this one too.
And even if we disagree on the rule, we can still be friends… because baseball is back!
Tyler Smith covers the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Hoosiers for IndySportsLegends and is a frequent contributor to the Journal Review. Smith is also the head girls basketball coach at Crawfordsville High School.
