It’s 2015 and we all have ADD. Baseball games are slow and boring. These two things don’t mix.
To help correct this issue, MLB put together a pace-of-play committee last year to figure out ways to speed things up a bit. And the results are in. Here are the rule changes coming next season:
— “Managers must make instant replay challenges from the dugout, rather than the field.” Of all the dumb sh*t that slows baseball down, this was probably the worst. MLB implemented replay in an attempt to not only get calls right, but also eliminate manager-umpire arguments, which slow down the game. Both of those things happened thanks to replay, but the arguments were replaced with managers coming out and asking umpires about their wife and kids while some assistant in the clubhouse watched a replay and give a thumbs up or down as to whether the manager should proceed with a challenge. Thank god that’s all gone.
— “Hitters must keep one foot in the batter’s box between pitches, unless an established exception occurs.” An “established exception” includes the ump granting the batter time out, which happens far too much. Not sure this rule makes much of a difference, ultimately.
— “Play will resume promptly once television broadcasts return from commercial breaks.” No one will miss seeing the pitcher’s last few warm-up tosses and the catcher half-assing a throw down to second base.
These are certainly a step in the right direction, as is baseball admitting it has an issue to start with, but more dramatic changes will have to come to truly change the speed of the games. Namely: A pitch clock. Twenty seconds between pitches or it’s a ball. DO IT, MLB.
