MLB’s new pitch clock is good, but one big rule adjustment is needed

I hate that a pitch clock is necessary. I really do.

But let’s not conflate the pitch clock rule with other rules recently introduced by MLB rulers. It’s not like the magic runner at second base in extra innings, a gimmick that eliminates the confrontation between batter and pitcher that is the essential element of the sport. The clock is not designed to limit strategy or prevent teams from using analytics such as: B. locking the layer. These rules have changed the way the game has been played for more than a century. I was very critical of these rules, especially the magic runner rule, from the start.

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However, the pitch clock is meant to help how the game used to be played. Again, I hate that it’s necessary, but I believe it will improve the product in the field.

Think about it: The average time of a nine-inning MLB game surpassed 3 hours in 2014 for the first time. She surpassed 2:50 for the first time in 1994. She surpassed 2:40 for the first time in 1986.

In 2022, the average time in a nine-inning game was 3:03. The extra 24 minutes from 1985 to last season isn’t 24 more minutes of action. It’s 24 minutes of basically nothing. Twenty-four minutes elapse between pitches, and both hitter and pitcher share the blame.

Those extra 24 minutes per game didn’t make the sport any better. And I say that as someone who considers himself primarily a baseball purist. I hated the original wild card, but I was wrong. I can admit that. Baseball is doing fine for the most part. it’s strong The talent on the field is better than ever at the moment. But the Sport could be better, for both purists and casual riders.

So I’m glad the pitch clock is there. Players, managers and fans who have contested and watched the rule in the minor leagues almost unanimously love the faster game. But as we saw in the first weekend of spring practice games, the pitch clock rules currently being written are not perfect. Far from it.

That one big adjustment needs to be made before opening day.

Don’t allow games to end on pitch clock violations

Yes, it must be in a large heading font.

The problem baseball is trying to solve is this: The pace of play is now slower than at any time in the history of the sport, and that’s not a good thing. The goal of pitch clock is to bring the pace of games back to how it was in the first 100+ years of the sport. But if the “fix” causes a problem with the ending of a game? In this case, the fix must be addressed.

I love that baseball’s worst-case scenario played out in one of the first games of the spring training schedule. you know what happened The Red Sox and Braves drew 6-6 in the ninth inning in Florida on Saturday. Atlanta batted, with bases loaded and a full count — seriously, it’s like it was scripted — and a pitch clock violation occurred, ending the game. And even more perfect was this: it wasn’t the pitch clock injury anyone was expecting! It was a confusing pitch clock violation, of course, and the batter (Cal Conley) was deemed a rule violation, so a strike three was called even though the pitcher (Robert Kwiatkowski) never actually pitched.

Jayson Stark explained the whole fiasco as only he can, but essentially if Conley had made eye contact with Kwiatkowski instead of looking at the catcher who was getting up, the infraction would have gone the other way and Kwiatkowski’s missed pitch would have been ball four , would have forced a run home and given Atlanta the win. Instead, Conley struck and the game ended in a 6-6 draw (because draws are cool in spring training games).

Seriously, that can’t happen in the regular season. And that really can’t happen in the postseason. Can you even imagine that? There’s an easy way to avoid this potential debacle.

Turn off the pitch clock after the eighth inning.

Yes, it’s bold, but not in the headline font.

I suspect Kenley Jansen and his colleagues will love this idea. Will starters and middle helpers be just a little jealous? Yes, probably, but that’s OK.

Ending games on a pitch clock violation when a pitch isn’t even thrown creates a much bigger problem than MLB is trying to solve. And that can’t happen.

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And you see, the problem with baseball’s current pace of play isn’t that pitchers and hitters need extra seconds at crucial moments, like in the late innings of close games. Allowing the drama of the moment to breathe more than makes up for the slower pace, and Time gives players the chance to play their best when it really counts.

The problem is when the middle innings of a non-close game take forever. This is drag. That’s the problem.

The new rules already take into account a scenario when runners are on base. The clock is 15 seconds with empty bases and 20 seconds when a runner is on board. The point of such a rule should be to highlight the best parts of the game and not get in the way of the biggest moments. The extra five seconds take care of that.

The average game time during the first weekend of spring training this year was 2:39, nearly a half hour shorter than the nine-inning game of the 2022 regular season. That almost feels like an overcorrection. Even an average nine-inning game time of 2:45 to 2:50 during the 2023 regular season would be amazing.

So we turn off the clock after the eighth inning. Let’s let the greatest moments breathe. Let’s make sure games are decided by action and not by a ticking clock.

Let’s make sure the solution doesn’t become the problem.