Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — In some of the most sweeping changes to the way the game is played in its history, MLB announced on Friday, several key tweaks to the on-field rules that will impact the game. And generally, I’m not a fan of a lot of monkeying around with the sport, but these changes are almost universally good. Good for fans. Good for players. And, in the end, good for the sport. But it won’t be some new-fangled version of baseball that will be on display in the future. In fact, what these changes do is allow the game to return to its pure roots. Let’s look at each new change one by one, and see how the game we all love is just going to get better.
1. The pitch clock
This is a rule that is long overdue. Starting next year, there will be a 15-second timer between pitches with the bases empty and a 20-second timer with runners on base. There are a lot of nuances to the rule, but the upshot is pitchers need to get down to business on the mound, and hitters need to get in the box and be ready to hit. Plus, there are only two times per plate appearance that a pitcher can attempt a pickoff.
So this will make for a cleaner game all the way around. Gone will be the days of the batter and the hitter acting like every pitch is Game 7 of the World Series. Nobody goes to a game to watch batters adjust their batting gloves or watch a pitcher throw endless soft tosses over to first to try to keep a runner close. Good riddance. Back in the day, the average game was a crisp, fast-moving affair. You got the sign, you threw the ball. Good. Welcome back. If the total game time can be cut to around 2:30 instead of the current 3:10, I’m all for it.
2. No more shifting
Somewhere, Max Muncy is celebrating this one. Starting next year, the defensive team must have a minimum of four players on the infield, with at least two infielders completely on either side of second base. And again, a purist might say, “the fielders should be able to play wherever the damn well please!” Well, this is just nonsense. For starters, the rule is only codifying the standard fielding positions in baseball. Until the last decade or so, the standard place for infielders to play was, you know, on the INFIELD!!
Not only will this give lefties like Muncy a few more hits for their trouble, but it will allow infielders to make those amazing plays that people who grew up watching the likes of Ozzie Smith and Bobby Grich saw on a daily basis: defenders going into the hole or up the middle, diving for balls that were trying to sneak through the infield. More of this please!
3. Larger bags
The bases, which traditionally have been 15 inches square, will instead be 18 inches square. Home plate is unchanged. This one, I’m less enthusiastic about. Not sure how much the additional couple of inches will make in enticing players to steal. But it does give fielders and runners alike a little extra space in which to operate so that perhaps nasty collisions like the one that took poor Max Muncy out of service on the last day of the 2021 season might be avoided.
However, I do think the previous two rules might add to the running game as well, so while you’re never going back to the days of Ricky Henderson, I imagine all of these changes will make speed a bit of a bigger deal on a roster.
Back to the Future
While pitchers might whine about being under the clock, and catchers might bemoan the fact that they have three fewer inches before somebody steals a bag on them, all of these changes will create a more exciting product on the field. And the beauty of it is, it will happen almost in an almost imperceptible manner.
As far as the fan is concerned, he went to a ball game, and he saw more hits, more stolen bases, more great plays by the defense, and saw it all in a a ballgame that got over before the kids’ bedtime.
Bravo, baseball! You got this one right.
