So Little Time

MLB was not satisfied with the original pitch clock rule changes they instituted prior to the 2023 season that shortened games a “whopping” 24 minutes from 2022 levels.  As outraged as we were here at BP that MLB decided to implement a timer to the game of baseball that previously never had been on a clock, it seems that the baseball powers still were not satisfied.  Instead, this past December, MLB decided to pass the following further rule modifications for the 2024 season:

1. The pitch clock with runners on base will be reduced from 20 to 18 seconds.
2. The pitch clock will now restart after a dead ball when the pitcher receives the ball and play is ready to resume.  Previously, the clock began only when the pitcher was on the mound. The change removes the pitcher’s ability to delay the start of the timer by walking around the edge of the mound.
3. The number of mound visits allowed will be reduced from five to four. An extra mound visit will be awarded in the ninth inning if the defensive team has zero remaining at the end of the eighth inning.  According to MLB, teams averaged only 2.3 mound visits per game last season and 98% of games would not have exceeded a limit of four mound visits.
4. A pitcher who warms up at the start of an inning must face at least one batter. According to MLB, there were 24 instances last season where a pitcher warmed up between innings and was replaced before throwing a pitch, adding approximately three minutes of dead time. There were two such instances during the 2023 World Series.
5. Batters will now have a wider lane to run down to first base. Previously, batters had to run on the dirt in order to avoid a violation. Now, the lane has been widened to include the cut of the infield grass. The distance between the foul line and the infield grass will be between 18 and 24 inches. 

Essentially MLB is hoping to shave off an extra five minutes by implementing this latest rule changes, since they were alarmed that the games throughout the 2023 season grew in length from the first half of the season to the second half.   We echo the thoughts of this CBS Sports article, since we also question what difference will an extra five minutes mean to the average fan.  Would anyone really notice or care by shortening the game by such a small margin?  The answer is no, but MLB only believes that fans want a shorter game and any rule change that reduces game time is the correct action, no matter how small the savings.

If we look at these rule changes a bit closer, we can see MLB’s lunacy on full display.  The first rule change noted above should have a negligible effect on reducing game time, since MLB already cited that pitchers on average began their deliveries with 7.3 remaining on the clock with runners on base.  Therefore, how much time could this new rule possibly save since pitchers already were delivering their pitches well within the 20 second time limit.

Rule change number three in our list again seems like a solution in search of a problem.  If only 2% of games even reach five visits, that means only 49 games for the entire year had one team having more than four visits to the mound.  The limit on mound visits is 30 seconds, so that means over the entire season this rule would save only an additional 24.5 minutes for the year.  Remember that 24.5 minutes will be averaged over the entire regular season of 2,430 games when impacting the average game time.  Therefore, that 24.5 minutes of savings for those 49 games will reduce the average game just over half a second or 0.6 seconds to be exact.

We see even more time obsession if we consider the rule change above in point number four.   There were only 24 instances last season where a pitcher warmed up between innings and was subsequently replaced before throwing a pitch, which added approximately three minutes of dead time.  Therefore, this only added 72 minutes to games for the entire year.  If we again average this over the entire 162 game schedule this would only add 1.8 seconds to each game played.

We should note that we have no issue with the fifth rule change, since this has nothing to do with timing.

In addition, the player’s association also holds our belief in terms of these current changes, since they did not agree with them, but were overruled by the owners.  The players association likely has concerns about how the speeding up of the game could negatively impact the health of pitchers.  There has not been any determination either way about the affects of the pitch clock on pitcher’s health, but the players wanted to first see how last year’s rule changes might have impacted players before implementing new rules.  This seems like a prudent decision by the players

Overall, implementing further changes to the timing of the game is unnecessary, just as the pitch clock rules were last year.  MLB has a one-track mind, with their only thought being that a reduction in game time equals greater overall popularity of the game.  As we noted previously, the gains in attendance last year were likely more a product of the country exiting the Covid pandemic than the rule changes.  We firmly believe those same gains will not occur in this current year. 

Only time will tell who is right.