Pace of Play - MLB Rule Changes

FredJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,244
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...t-limits-no-pitch-clocks-shorter-commercials/
As a "consumer" of the baseball product, I have no problem with baseball's pace of play. An average of 3 hrs for a pro baseball game is fine with me. I realize I must be crazy...according to some. NFL games last that long & include a 15 minute break as well as long commercial breaks. ...but I digress.

I do think IF you want to speed up the game, the pitch clock idea was not as good as addressing the mound visits. So... we'll see; but this seems to be a great way to address the game length issue. It will be interesting to see how teams work this. I assume... visits by infielders will go away completely. Catchers visits will be the interesting one. I suppose there is data out there on the # of visits per game correlated to game length. I'd like to see that. This should definitely reduce game length...unless players/coaches figure out little ways to buy back the time.
 

MikeJackets1967

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,844
Location
Lovely Ducktown,Tennessee
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...t-limits-no-pitch-clocks-shorter-commercials/
As a "consumer" of the baseball product, I have no problem with baseball's pace of play. An average of 3 hrs for a pro baseball game is fine with me. I realize I must be crazy...according to some. NFL games last that long & include a 15 minute break as well as long commercial breaks. ...but I digress.

I do think IF you want to speed up the game, the pitch clock idea was not as good as addressing the mound visits. So... we'll see; but this seems to be a great way to address the game length issue. It will be interesting to see how teams work this. I assume... visits by infielders will go away completely. Catchers visits will be the interesting one. I suppose there is data out there on the # of visits per game correlated to game length. I'd like to see that. This should definitely reduce game length...unless players/coaches figure out little ways to buy back the time.
I've got no problem with how Major League Baseball games are played either(y)
 

Josh H

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
394
I'd be a fan of making every reliever face a minimum of two batters and limiting the number of mound visits. I'd also limit the amount of pickoff attempts but I'm sure setting that at a finite number gives the base runner a huge advantage.
 

Milwaukee

Banned
Messages
7,277
Location
Milwaukee, WI
This pretty much nails it:

“If you don’t like baseball now, what could they possibly do to make you like in the future?” he asked. “Shorter games? Okay, just start watching in the sixth inning. Shorter season, you say? Okay, just start watching in the summer. If you don’t like the sport now, why would less of it make you watch more?” - Ryen Russillo
 

D-man44

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,805
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...t-limits-no-pitch-clocks-shorter-commercials/
As a "consumer" of the baseball product, I have no problem with baseball's pace of play. An average of 3 hrs for a pro baseball game is fine with me. I realize I must be crazy...according to some. NFL games last that long & include a 15 minute break as well as long commercial breaks. ...but I digress.

I do think IF you want to speed up the game, the pitch clock idea was not as good as addressing the mound visits. So... we'll see; but this seems to be a great way to address the game length issue. It will be interesting to see how teams work this. I assume... visits by infielders will go away completely. Catchers visits will be the interesting one. I suppose there is data out there on the # of visits per game correlated to game length. I'd like to see that. This should definitely reduce game length...unless players/coaches figure out little ways to buy back the time.
I work for the braves the longer the games the better!
 

FredJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,244
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia
If I had a magic wand... I'd put a stop to any more momentum for a pitch clock in baseball. The time between pitches is a red herring & not really what extends games.

This is a great article with lots of data (MLB). Here's a nugget to chew on from article.

For the first time since pitch-level data has been recorded, there were more foul balls than balls put in play in 2017 — and that trend continued in 2018.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/foul-balls-are-the-pace-of-play-problem-nobodys-talking-about/
 

GTBandman

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
151
Greg Maddox was an IE`s ideal pitcher. Threw strikes. Complete games with less than 90 pitches in about two hours. Seven seconds from time he caught ball until next pitch when no one on base. I timed him repeatedly - just amazing. Loved those games.
 
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