MLB to Implement Pitch Clock and Shift Ban in 2023 to Reinvigorate Baseball

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Sept. 8, 2022 | Tim Brown

[MinorityRepublican]

Major League Baseball will implement a pitch clock and ban defensive shifts beginning in the 2023 season, people familiar with the matter said, an attempt to quicken pace of play and reinvigorate offenses as a means of combating the sport’s faded appeal with fans.

An 11-person joint committee that includes four active players recommended the changes. Former Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox executive Theo Epstein served as an adviser to the committee. The league also will increase the size of bases by three inches, a measure it believes will reduce collisions and injuries.

The changes, expected to be announced Friday, are aimed at injecting new excitement into a sport that has seen pushback from fans in recent years. Plodding games with less action have been a factor in both turning off older fans and alienating potential new ones, pressuring attendance and TV ratings. A new collective bargaining agreement with players last spring gave MLB commissioner Rob Manfred the authority to implement rule changes with 45 days notice, much faster than the one-year’s notice the commissioner previously was obligated to give.

[Graybeard58]

and tell the batter to stop leaving the batters box.

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Already a rule............. a very ignored rule.

[Graybeard58]

This is as bad as the ghost runner on second base in extra innings.
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Little Leagueish rule. If they want to quicken the game they would play 7 inning games............ Just like Little League. Allow games to end in a tied score too.

I’ve got a bunch of suggestions to screw up MLB even more than it already is.

[Dr. Sivana]

I’ve got a bunch of suggestions to screw up MLB even more than it already is.

If you really want to mess it up, left football people make the new rules.

1. Unlimited substitutions, including pinch runners. Depending on situation, bring in either a .350 singles hitter or a .220 50 hr guy. If pitchers go from lefty to righty, you can change too, and back again! 2. Separate lineups for offense and defense. No more bad fielders. Every batter is a DH. 3. No need for more than four batters. That way we see more hits, more homeruns. Since all base-runners will be replaced with speed specialist pinch-runners, more stolen bases. 4. Instant replay for everything, to eliminate bad calls forever!

This setup would mean more hits, more great fielding plays, more stolen bases. Great pitchers would command a greater premium because their job is now harder. You would see a LOT of great baseball plays.

But it wouldn't be baseball. 5.

[RayChuang88]

Can someone explain why defensive shifts are a problem for the game?

Because they were VERY rarely used until analytics forced its increased use in the last 20 years. And it effectively made baseball into a boring strikeout-and-home run game. 🥱