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5 Things to Know Before the 2023 MLB Opening Day

The 2023 MLB regular season is almost upon us! It wouldn’t surprise me if some of you are less enthusiastic than others or are just completely indifferent about it, especially since general viewership has decreased over the past three decades with fan attendance sharply decreasing whether it be due to weather, costs, personal income relative to cost-of-living, ballpark accessibility, COVID, or the real time and emotional commitment it takes to sit through a game. Commissioner Rob Manfred has been well aware of this issue & obviously wants to grow professional baseball to continue to make more money. So, the joint Competition Committee, which was created according to the recently negotiated MLB-MLBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement & is comprised of six MLB representatives, four players, & one umpire, approved three rule changes this past October to make the game more attractive to fans by increasing the game’s pace of play and the action on the field. These rules are technically in place now during Spring Training, but these rule changes along with a couple other operational adjustments will be on full display come the regular season.

Here are five things to know before 2023 MLB Opening Day:

  1. “Tik Tok, on the Pitch Clock”

    I invite you to picture something (or someone, eeeek) you know has been creeping into your life, something that almost makes you feel paranoid like someone is watching you or right behind your every move, almost like a countdown is on & the pressure & anxiety grows. Is it a decision you know you’ll have to eventually make? Is it a feeling of guilt or uneasiness from a past event or an upcoming change? Is it something you’re afraid is going to hurt you, bring you down, or enhance or bring someone or something else up?

    For many MLB players, that feeling may not have been a figment of their imagination or emotional creation because, “PITCH CLOCKS ARE HEAAA!” MLB announced this device’s arrival back in September. The pitch clock starts when the pitcher catches the ball from the catcher. It is set at 15 seconds when there are no runners on the bases & 20 seconds when there is at least one runner on base, & there is 30 seconds in-between batters. Because it was tested out in minor league games with “successful” results, MLB officially implemented the clock for Spring Training for players to get to know it & to understand its style & flow. Think of it like dating. Like we know all too well in the dating game, some people have a natural edge & advantage, but others can learn to adapt & make the most of a situation to get an advantage.

    What are these “successful” results? The pitch clock’s main objective is to speed up the pace of play to attract more viewers & fans. In its trial run in minor league games, the pitch clock cut games by 25 minutes to an average length of 2 hours and 38 minutes. The 2022 MLB season nine inning games lasted 3 hours and 4 minutes, on average. In theory, since minor league games averaged about the same time in their 2021 season as the majors’ 2022 season, this 2023 season should experience similar results.

    It turns out that the pitch clock can do so much more than meet its main objective. It can also alter the entire dynamic of each & every at-bat.

    Whenever MLB changes rules or even the ball, it is often times meant to slightly tip the scale one way or the other. Pitchers & batters across history have had relatively equal advantages, but especially as of the past few decades, it isn’t hard to see an ebb & flow when games are high scoring vs having numerous strikeouts & no-hitters. On its face, designating an amount of time pitchers have to begin their motion to deliver the pitch seems like a huge disadvantage. Many have established their routines to give them the ability to become the best in the world at their job. For my fellow bowlers out there, especially you men’s league high roller bowlers, how would you feel if you had to begin to approach the lane by X seconds of the arrow on your screen showing it’s your turn? Even if you are not specifically limited in the amount of time they have to release the ball, you still feel rushed. So, constraining pitchers’ time & mobility should give the batters an opportunity to hit more balls, make games higher scoring & more exciting from fans’ perspectives, & still make the total game time shorter.

    On the contrary, some players like Kyle Tucker think this gives pitchers an unfair advantage because batters, like pitchers, often want to set their own pace & get into their own flow when stepping in & out of the batter’s box. This new pitch clock rule places restrictions on the batters as well as the pitchers. Batters must be in the batter’s box & “alert” to the pitcher by the 8 second mark on the clock. The batters have 7 seconds to be ready to hit a ball whereas the pitchers can use as little or as much of the time rema What the pitch clock does, in practice, is allow the pitcher to set the pace & get into THEIR own flow. The pitchers are already using Spring Training to experiment with & learn the clock’s limits to flip the apparent disadvantage into an advantage.

    There are a few more items in this rule change’s small print, such as limiting the number of pickoff attempts & step-offs (“disengagements”) & penalizing violations, & those will be like the extra demand to read your partner’s love language in this dating game. Pitchers who are late are charged with an automatic ball while batters who violate the timer are charged with an automatic strike. Pitchers who disengage a third time results in a balk. Additionally, it may be a steep learning curve for the umpires, too, since they have to be the compliance monitors & make sure they are consistent in their compliance monitoring. Baseball is fun, right?!

    Note: The MLBPA strongly opposed the decision to implement a pitch clock. You can imagine why… *raises hands to highlight all the above*.

  2. “No Shift for You!”

    Here is a short story to which many of y’all can probably relate: On our recreation adult beer league softball team, I often play second base, & my husband is our designated shortstop. Whenever some lefties are at-bat, he starts waving his arm, motioning me to just keep moving left to basically provide backup to our first baseman (who, for the record, is a woman), he stands more so by second base, & our outfield follows suit. On other occasions, I stand further back to where I’m almost on the edge of the grassy outfield to give me more time to react to a ground ball or read a pop up. Some teams complain or make fun of big ol’ shifts like that, but when you start to notice patterns in certain batters, it works, & in our league, it’s 100% legal.

    That isn’t the case in MLB anymore. Defensive shift limitations are a major rule change this season. Let’s break down the new rule:

    • Infielders must be within the infield boundary once the pitcher is on the rubber = speaking directly to second basemen who stand further back into what is technically outfield territory

    • Infielders must stay on their side of the field, i.e., they cannot move into the side of the infield the batter is more likely to hit a ball = speaking directly to shortstops who cross that mid-field line.

    • When a violation of the two points above occurs, the offensive team can choose an automatic ball or stick with the result of the play.

    • Outfielders are not restricted in their shift mobility & can position themselves in the infield or shallow green outfield area = this rule prohibits four-outfielder setups.

    Why did MLB make this rule change? You probably can take a decent guess. By restricting shifts, MLB says it increased batting averages & decreased strikeouts in the minor league games, “giving players more opportunity to show off their athleticism”.

    Translation: It makes games more offensive, which fans consider more exciting, & MLB needs more fans to keep making money.

  3. “I Like Big Bases, & I Cannot Lie”

    Last year’s bases are getting some plastic - er, rubber - surgery to get that VA-VA-BOOM! The bases are increasing in size from 15 inches square to 18 inches square. Don’t let the seemingly small alteration fool you, though, because these extra few inches will go a long way in practicing “safe baseball”. Not only will first basemen have a few extra inches of safety to work with while receiving throws to avoid collisions as runners sprint toward the bag but it should reduce the amount of oversliding with the reduced distance between bags & may reduce injury that way.

    P.S.A.: MLB claims no responsibility for the increase in bases that may be stolen due to this enhancement. Just kidding. Of course it will because shortening the distance between bases gives runners incentive to steal. It’s part of the benefits package.

    Home base remains unchanged.

  4. “Cause You Know How Sticky It Get” - Drake

    The “Drake Curse” may or may not be real, but what is real is MLB’s “refocus” on the anti-sticky stuff rule governing pitchers & conducting umpire inspections. Sticky stuff was all the baseball world was talking about in the 2021 season (besides the escalating tension between MLB & the PA as their CBA inched toward expiration, that is). That means this is the third season in a row that MLB has made it a priority to address pitchers’ widespread use of sticky stuff. This season, the checks will be more random and include checks on hats & belts in addition to checking pitchers’ hands, which was what actually happened most of the time last season. Umpires will also have authority to perform checks mid-inning with reason, like if a pitcher is acting suspiciously wiping their hand on their uniform or inside their glove. Furthermore, comparing the spin-to-velocity ratios for each inning have been helpful in identifying when foreign substances may be used, though that alone is not direct proof.

    In all honesty, the pitchers have picked up on the predictable nature of these & use substances in when they know they won’t be checked or use substances that are easier to hide & harder for the umpires to detect. Here, pitchers have been making adjustments to recapture any slight advantages they may have had in an almost similar way to the pitch clock rule. The main difference here is that there are no boundaries to try to learn. It’s a black or white rule. Either you’re using illegal sticky substances or you are not, but because MLB never really enforced this rule until 2021, pitchers who want to continue to use illegal sticky substances will find ways to continue to use sticky substances.

  5. “The Mound Club is the Most Exclusive Club in this ballpark”

    There will be more restrictions for position players to make appearances as pitchers. A “position player” is a player who plays as an infielder, outfielder, or catcher while on defense. So, basically, position players are everyone except your pitchers and designated hitters who do not take the field on defense.

    The new rule states these position players are allowed to enter the field as a pitcher only in situations where at least one of the following is met:

    (1) The game is in extra innings;

    (2) The team is trailing by eight runs at any point; &/or

    (3) The team is winning by at least ten runs in the 9th inning.

    It is true that we don’t see this happening too often, but when it does, it happens for a reason. Last season, there was a record 132 appearances by position players at the mound. There were around 90 appearances the two season prior, & if we go back to the 2008 season, there were only three - yes, the you-can-count-on-one-hand three - appearances. Teams started using position players as pitchers in situations where you are on the losing end of a complete blowout but also in others where you have a really sizable lead late in a game. Heck, the Los Angeles Dodgers put one utility infielder on the mound 10 times last season, eight of which were wins!

    Why would teams do this in either scenario? To keep pitchers healthy! Current demands for the team’s bullpen are heavy since the pitchers need to be ready to go in at any time in any game. It’s hard to remain fresh, especially when it gets into those long games & extra innings. If you think your game is a lost cause, why waste your pitchers’ arms? If you think your lead is huge enough to sustain a few more at-bats with a position player on the mound & come out on top, why not rest your pitchers to be ready for the next game? From the teams’ perspective, saving relief pitchers for more competitive games & playing position players as pitchers instead could be worth it so long as those position players don’t suffer injury from playing a less familiar position that demands different body motions & muscle activation.

    MLB clearly wanted to make a statement by putting up the red ropes to block us non-pitchers, marking the mound as the most exclusive spot on the field. For fans, there’s a fun novelty attached to seeing someone who isn’t skilled enough to be labeled a pitcher on the roster approach the mound & somehow manage to get the job done to wrap up a game. For the Competition Committee, this rule change was necessary. It unanimously decided to approve this rule change, & from the PA’s perspective, it clearly wanted to protect its players from avoidable injury.

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These changes and actions are happening whether fans support them or not, but I genuinely hope that they re-attract fans who may have lost touch, keep fans who already invest a lot of themselves into the game, & appeal to a new generation of fans. Baseball may not be America’s pastime anymore, but it doesn’t have to be a dying sport, either. In this spirit, I leave you with this great TV clip, & play ball!

https://cupofcoffee.substack.com/p/cup-of-coffee-february-27-2023?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email