A lot of new rules will be instituted for this year's baseball season. They are designed to speed up the game and give it more action. Some of them seem small but they may have bigger impact on the game than would seem.
It is going to be a learning experience, not just for the players and the fans, but the umpires as well. In addition to new rules, Major League Baseball has ten rookie umpires being promoted from the minors this year. The new rules have been used in the minor leagues already so this is a good thing. These young umpires already have experience with them. But they are still rookies and will probably make rookie mistakes. They were promoted because ten umpires have retired, including four crew chiefs. So that is 250 years of experience being replaced by zero years. Expects some fuck ups.
In addition to on-field rules, we have a big change to schedules. The 2023 season introduces the balanced schedule. This means that every team will play every other team in the league, the first time this has happened since the two leagues merged in 1903. Each team will play their four division opponents 14 times instead of 19. They will play six games against teams in their own league, American and National leagues; one series at home and one away. Then play three games at each team in their opposing league, Interleague Play, alternating home and away each year. This means there is almost no difference between the two leagues now that the National League uses the Designated Hitter (DH), instituted last year. It seems the beauty of the World Series is more and more diminished each year.
Here are the on field rule changes:
Pitch Clock
New Rule: The rule states that a pitcher must begin his motion before the expiration of the 15 second timer or 20 seconds with at least one runner on base. The pitcher can step off the rubber twice per batter, aka a disengagement, which resets the clock. If they go over the time, the batter gets a ball. If they step off the rubber a third time, it is considered a balk. The batter has to be in the batter's box with at least 8 seconds left on the clock. If they don't, they get a strike. They have one time out per at bat.
I'm looking forward to the first time ever, a batter gets struck out when the pitcher has only thrown two pitches.
One of the conceits of baseball is that it has never had a clock like other sports. That era is over. The sport may be too slow for a younger crowd. This rule is a compressor ... to rid the game of all its down time. The average length of each game in the 2022 regular season was three hours and three minutes. The average Spring Training game this year was two hours and 38 minutes. Over 20 minutes have been shaved off.
Since the pitchers are allowed two disengagements per batter, there should be more base stealing. A disengagement could be stepping off the pitching rubber or throwing to a base that has a runner on it. In 2022, Jon Berti of the Marlins had the most stolen bases of the season with 41. This is not a lot. In 1986, Vince Coleman of the Cardinals had 107. I don't know if the new rule will put us back in that range, but it would be nice. Steals are a lot of fun. So far, teams seem to be running more. In two games, the Baltimore Orioles have stolen ten bases.
Roger Clemens said he was wondering about leg strength. Those pitchers with the strongest legs will be able to recover the quickest. I hadn't thought of the clock causing more fatigue. We'll see.
Larger Bases
New Rule: The actual size of first, second and third base are increasing from 15 inches to 18. This decreases the distance between these bases by 4.5 inches. Home plate stays the same size so the distance between home and first/third is only reduced by 3 inches.
Alex Cora calls them pizza boxes. This rule change was done to decrease the number of injuries from player colliding on the base path, but it should increase the amount of hits and stolen base attempts. A larger target to tag, with a slide or not, should mean more base running therefore more action. This should make the game much more interesting because the only thing that players on this level seem to be bad at is base running. A lot of interesting scenarios should come from this.
Stolen bases in Spring Training this year increased to 792. This is 492 more than last year. The larger bases and the clock had a lot to do with this. I love it.
Defensive Shifts
New Rule: There must be four defensive players on the infield when the pitcher is on the rubber. There must be two players on the left of the second base and two on the right.
In recent years, this has been a real issue. Advanced stats are so good that teams can tell where a batter is going to hit, most of the time. Using this data, they have been able to design their defense around these stats. This has kept the action to a bare minimum making it a game of balls, strikes and homeruns. Batters have been trying to hit the ball out of the park because getting a single is so difficult. This change should increase the amount of singles, doubles and triples and decrease the homeruns.
It should also make keeping track in your score book at home a lot more easier as well.
Position Players Being Used as Pitchers
New Rule: The position player can pitch but only under one of these three conditions: 1) if you are leading by ten or more runs and it is the ninth inning, 2) if you are losing by eight runs at any time or 3) the game is in extra innings
This shouldn't affect game play much. Teams have been putting position players on the mound too much lately. They do this to save their bullpen for another day that is more competitive. This can cause injuries due to players not being stretched out enough to be a pitcher. No big deal here. I don't think there were any rules about this in the past.
So far the game play has been great. A few missteps have occurred but nothing worth complaining about. Play ball!
