When spring training begins, fans and players alike will learn a lot about MLB’s new rules. There will be gaffes, and players will complain as they adjust to a bevy of changes. But there’s one aspect that will not be understood until real games begin and real pennant races develop.
Minor-league testing and Grapefruit League exhibition games cannot fully recreate the pressure of intense, late-and-close regular-season games, nor the playoffs. No one wants the biggest moments in the sport decided by a pitch-clock violation, right?
Now, some players won’t like the pitch clock in any setting. But this winter, agent Scott Boras honed in on his October usage, citing player feedback he’s received.
“In the postseason, there clearly should be no pitch clock,” Boras said. “It’s the moment, the big moment. They need to reflect, they need more time, it’s a different scenario than the regular season, and we don’t want their performances rushed.
“We understand why they would probably (use a clock) during the season, for the efficiency of the game and what they believe to be a fan-positive move for the shortening of games — understood. But in the postseason, we don’t want these men in a completely different emotional environment, where the settings mean so much more, where all their work and effort, all their goals are achieved. And at this level, we want them to have the appropriate time, both pitchers and position players, to evaluate and move forward in the most prepared and directed way.”
When the current collective bargaining agreement was agreed to last March, a new competition committee was established to discuss playing rules. Ultimately, as was the case prior to the creation of the committee and this CBA, commissioner Rob Manfred’s office has control over what rules are implemented. But the Players Association’s representatives on the committee nevertheless voted against two of the three new rule changes: the pitch clock, and the shift.
The union had reservations about the pitch clock overall, playoffs or not. But one of the union’s concerns was over the same issue Boras pointed to: the lack of discernment between game intensity.
“Major League Baseball was unwilling to meaningfully address the areas of concern that Players raised, and as a result, Players on the Competition Committee voted unanimously against the implementation of the rules covering defensive shifts and the use of a pitch timer,” the MLBPA said in a statement in September, when MLB announced the changes for 2023.
So why didn’t MLB ultimately want to distinguish between April games and those played in say, Yankee Stadium in October?
Morgan Sword, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations, acknowledged in September that the question was one of the main issues discussed on the competition committee. One key point: the later in a game, the slower things get.
“Ultimately, I think the committee decided to keep the same rules throughout the game for a couple of reasons,” Sword said. “One, I didn’t like the idea of playing different parts of the game under different rules. Two, they felt it was unfair for some players to have some pitching with a timer and some not pitching with a timer. And finally, you know, the pace issues… are most acute for the end of the game. And that, I think if we’re going to deliver to fans what they’re asking for, it’s important that those timer rules stay in effect throughout the game.”
Theo Epstein, a consultant to the commissioner and a key voice during the rule-making process, said the rules are designed to prevent games from turning on technicalities.
“There are a lot of safeguards built into the rules to make sure that games aren’t decided in a late-and-close situation by a pitch-timer violation,” Epstein said. “Every hitter has a timeout each and every plate appearance, where if the game is going too fast, you need a little bit more time, you can simply call timeout, and gather your thoughts and reset the timer that way.
“When there are runners on base, every pitcher can step off twice per plate appearance with impunity, and reset the clock and gather your thoughts and move forward. And then you get two more if a runner advances.
“There are five mound visits throughout the course of the game. You’re guaranteed to have one in the ninth inning and one in each extra inning that can be used to stop the clock — come together, gather thoughts and move forward. And then there are also, thanks to player input, there’s now some discretion with umpires under certain special circumstances, where umpires can afford the players more time to avoid a situation where it’s inappropriate to have the clock dictate a ball or strike or decide a game .
“So those are safeguards that were important, because we want players to be able to perform at a really high level without incurring violations, and the rule was designed that way for that reason.”
Indeed, everything might work out well. But for this one element of the rule changes, it’s probably impossible to say for sure until October.
(Photo: Mary DeCicco / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
.