MLB added the pitch clock this season to speed up the pace of play. Courtesy | Rich Schultz

One week into the 2023 Major League Baseball season, we’re already seeing shorter games, more action, and more viewers. And it’s all thanks to the most significant rule changes to baseball in decades.

Despite the objections of players and old-school commentators, MLB has made three new rule changes for this season: first, larger bases to prevent injury and encourage stealing; second, a 20-second pitch clock to speed up the pace-of-play; and, last, a ban on shifts that move an infielder to the outfield grass or more than two to one side of the diamond.

The changes aren’t perfect, but most are already proving to be good for the game.

Bigger bases have brought second base four-and-a-half inches closer to first. In the first five days of last year’s season, players stole 40 bases on 57 attempts. This year, the number of stolen bases more than doubled to 84, with the number of attempts already reaching 100. According to these numbers, the stolen-base success rate has risen 14 percentage points from 70% to 84%. Baserunners are stealing more, and they’re more successful when they try. The game could use some more excitement on the basepaths, and we’re already hearing the broadcaster say “runner goes” 14% more often than last season. 

Shorter basepaths have brought more action, and the new pitch clock is bringing shorter games. Pitchers must begin their motion less than 15 seconds after their last pitch if the bases are empty and 20 if there are runners on. The average nine-inning game stretched to three hours and three minutes last season. That time has already been cut down by 25 minutes thanks to the pitch clock.

Yet more important than the total time saved is the shorter pauses between pitches. With the pitch clock, MLB has shaved off 4.5 seconds between pitches compared to last season. The pitch clock is not just saving fans time, but can also better hold the attention of the viewer. That’s 4.5 seconds you won’t have to look down at your phone instead of at the action.

The stats prove as much. MLB.TV set a new opening day record with 172 million viewership minutes compared to last year’s 121 million, 42% higher. More people tuned in for opening day than ever before, and for longer. 

But the rule changes are not perfect.

The shift ban, for example, is a bailout for pull hitters — batters who tend to hit the ball to one side of the field. MLB prevented teams from loading one side of the infield or moving an infielder to the shallow outfield in an effort to increase hits and plays that show off a player’s range.

The shift is the physical manifestation of the mental game. MLB has decided to suffocate this strategic side of the game in favor of players who haven’t learned to hit it where they ain’t. Sure, the league batting average is up marginally and we probably have seen more range from the league’s best infielders. But do ball players making millions deserve an artificial advantage?

These benefits, of course, have come with trade-offs. The most visible drawbacks are the climactic moments that end with anticlimactic clock violations. In the ninth inning, with bases loaded, two outs, and a full count — the childhood dream scenario — Braves’ batter Cal Conley was called out on a pitch clock violation that cost him a strike and ended the game. Fortunately, it was only a spring training game, but nobody wants a ballgame to end that way.

Still, teams are averaging just 0.8 violations per game, according to CBS Sports, and fans should expect that number to drop as players — especially pitchers, who have received the majority — continue to acclimate to the ticking clock. Football players got used to the play clock, and basketball players did the same with the shot clock. Some tense moments will occasionally end with a violation, but those letdowns will be outweighed by the thousand other times a game will end in two-and-a-half hours instead of three.

The naysayers will write their columns and the traditionalists will fantasize about the way the game used to be played, but this first week of baseball has shown us a glimpse of a faster and more intense game. 

The changes are good for baseball and worth the trade-offs.