The Post Season Pitch Clock Debate

There has been an ongoing debate about whether to relax the pitch clock rules when it comes to the post season.  We have not even experienced a pitch clock post season, but already there seems to be a division within the baseball hierarchy about whether to change the rules to give more time during the playoffs.

The players association (MLBPA) seems to want to change the rules, while MLB and the commissioner want to keep the current rules in place, which give pitchers 15 seconds between pitches when there are no runners on base and 20 seconds when there are base runners.  The fear hear that no one wants to openly mention is that a critical playoff or Word Series moment could be determined by a pitcher or batter violation.  Imagine a critical moment with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning and the score tied, with a 3-2 count on the batter, and the pitcher takes 21 seconds to release the pitch, resulting in an automatic ball and thus walking in the winning run.  Thus, a pitch violation would reduce a critical moment to actually no substantive action, and instead a procedural rule would determine the outcome of a game.  What a disheartening way to end a game for the fans!

There would be no winners in the above scenario, since if the umpire looked the other way and allowed the pitch to go beyond the 20-second mark; the fans of the team at bat would be crying bloody murder.

MLB created this rule, but now many see the ramifications should a pitch clock decide a game and ruin an otherwise critical baseball moment.  Although we here at BP have made our disdain for the pitch clock clear, we do not understand how there can be an outcry from one side to change rules just for the playoffs.  After all rules are rules.  Why should fans accept an alteration of the rules that were good enough to govern a 162 game season, but now change just for the playoffs?  What fundamentally is different about regular season from playoff games?  The question is rhetorical.  There is nothing different about them and MLB should apply the same rules previously used in the regular season to playoff games.

In all due honesty, we would love to bask in the schadenfreude (the misfortune) if baseball ultimately encounters a scenario as noted above.  It would be a told you so moment for us here at BP, and would highlight our reasons for why the pitch clock has no place in baseball.