Speedup: National Pastime To Move Faster, Alas, as New Rules Set To Debut

Spring training is under way in Florida and Arizona, as ballplayers wring out the winter chill and get ready for the long season. Exhibition games begin on Saturday, and while the scores don’t matter, it is a relief for those whom the pleasures of the gridiron, various courts, and rinks pale in comparison to those of the diamond.Timeless rhythms, though, appear set for a collision course with newfangled rule changes, which baseball’s commissioner, Robert Manfred, expects to “produce a crisp, more exciting game with more balls in play.” Will they also mar baseball’s deliberate pace? The sport is the only one, after all, without a game clock. Or at least that used to be the case. Now, a “pitch clock” will force pitchers to hurl within a prescribed amount of time, and batters will have to step to the plate promptly or be penalized with a strike without even swinging the bat. Pitchers will be allowed only two “disengagements” — when they step off the mound for a pick off throw or just to contemplate — per plate appearance.Baseball is pointing to the results of a minor league trial run with the new rules, as these changes were implemented in the sport’s lower levels last year before being promoted to primetime. The Associated Press reports that with these rules in effect, the average length of minor league games decreased by 25 minutes. Another rule change targets not time, but space. Defensive shifts, whereby in efforts to combat batters’ proclivities fielders are asymmetrically clustered to segments of the field — these can often assume exotic geometries — are now banned. All four infielders must now park themselves in standard positions. A fan could object that the burden of beating the shift should rest with the batter, who could adjust his approach or — heaven forfend — lay down a bunt to beat the lopsided defensive arrangement. The game’s governors apparently disagree, and will penalize shifters with an automatic ball for their hurler. Reminiscent of a penalty flag in football, the wronged team can also let the result of the play stand. Only the most obsessive seamheads are likely to detect that bases have swelled to 18 inches square from 15 in an effort to cut down on collisions and increase the number of stolen bases. Last year, Jon Berti of the Marlins led baseball in bags swiped, with 41. In 1982, Rickey Henderson stole 130. The rule most likely to cause contention is not having its debut this season, but is a relic of the 2020 campaign that was foreshortened by Covid-19. A runner will begin on second base at the beginning of every half frame in extra innings in an effort to avoid drawn out affairs that deplete bullpens and benches alike. That practice will cease come playoff time — in what could be read as an explicit acknowledgment from the barons of the game that it smacks of artificial tinkering, more akin to a shootout in soccer or hockey than a sport that prides itself on immutability. Another bug of the Covid era turned feature of the game’s future is the ubiquity of the designated hitter. This coming season will mark yet another where pitchers do not bat, as they had in the National League from time immemorial, and in the American League before 1973. The lone exception is Shohei Ohtani, of the Los Angeles Angels, who excels as both slugger and pitcher. He is the only player in baseball so exceptional he has his own rule; a player can appear as both a pitcher and designated hitter in the same game, and be removed from one role, and not the other. For those peeved by all of the rulebook meddling, Mr. Ohtani — not to mention Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso, and a whole host of others — remind with their talents that America’s pastime has a knack for persistent delight, summer after summer.

Speedup: National Pastime To Move Faster, Alas, as New Rules Set To Debut

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