The Thrill is Back: New Rules Reinvigorated the MLB in 2023
*Article from Lexington Lines Autumn/Winter 2023 Issue, pages 68-69
Check out the full issue here.
The 2023 MLB season introduced some innovative new rules to make the game faster and more thrilling. The key changes included bigger bases, a pitch clock, and limitations on defensive shifts. The new rules aimed to make the sport more exciting by increasing the action, reducing the downtime between plays, and improving the overall quality of the baseball experience. Now that the season is over, let’s assess: Did they make the game better?
Pitch Clock
The pitch clock is essentially a 30-second timer between batters and a shorter time limit between pitches (15 seconds after they receive the ball if the bases are empty, 20 seconds if there are runners on).
The goal was to make the game faster and more competitive. In October, NBC reported that it had shortened games in 2023 by an average of 24 minutes. Some stadiums even reported that it cut into their beer sales, with four franchises extending alcohol sales past the traditional 7th-inning stopping point.
According to Gaming Today, 22% of fans don't like the pitch-clock rule. I tend to agree; if fans go to baseball for leisure, why is the goal suddenly to get it over with as soon as possible? In my eyes, they should just let the game be and have it run for hours like it always has.
Bigger Bases
The bases were three inches bigger this year, a change designed to protect players from dangerous collisions, which is good for players, and to encourage more base stealing, which is fun for fans.
In September, ESPN reported that the success rate on steals was 80.2% for the season, the highest in the history of the game. In 2022, there was an average of 1.0 stolen bases per game; in 2023, that number increased to 1.4, which might sound small but represents a 40% increase in stolen bases across the board.
No doubt, more stolen bases means more exciting games, so the MLB succeeded with this effort.
Shift Restrictions
New shift restrictions meant the defensive team was required to have a minimum of four players in the infield, with at least two infielders completely on either side of second base. In recent years, it has become popular to study a player’s hitting data and crowd the areas where he is most likely to hit the ball. The new restrictions were intended to increase batting averages and allow infielders to better showcase their athleticism with great defensive plays.
MLB hitters batted .248 in 2023, a five-point increase over 2022, according to Forbes. This was likely due to the combined effect of the pitching clock and the shift restrictions. As ambivalent as I am about the pitch clock, the shift restrictions make sense, and it’s great to see more hitting and more thrilling plays on defense. The resulting displays of athleticism make the games more entertaining.
“I think it’s going to bring a lot of athleticism back into the game,” Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger told MLB.com. “These infielders are going to have to cover a lot of ground and show off what they can do, as opposed to standing where the ball is probably going to be hit. For me, as just a baseball fan, I think that’s pretty exciting.”
Verdict
Statistics improved, and so did attendance, which saw a 9% bump. Players had good things to say about the rules, and the consensus among sports journalists is that more stolen bases and athletic defensive plays made the game more exciting.
Okay, so maybe I’m still on the fence about the pitch clock. It shrinks the window of time we spend on the game, but that has its upside, too, as Yankees ace Gerritt Cole told MLB.com, “Any extra time I can get with my two boys and my wife is great.”
“…And the New York traffic can be grind,” he added. “So getting home at 11 instead of 12 or 12:15 on a regular basis is really great. I don’t feel the quality of the game has dropped at all. In fact, I think it’s actually kind of picked up to a certain extent.”