MLB: How to truly improve the pace of play
If MLB is truly serious about speeding up the game and improving the pace of play, it needs to take a step back to the past.
It is easy to see that MLB is focused on the pace of play. There is the worry that younger fans will be bored with the game and its slower action, as the length of games has continued to increase. Last year, despite a focus on moving games along, they lasted, on average, for a record three hours and five minutes.
Naturally, the powers that be are concerned that games will continue to get longer. There are now rules in place limiting mound visits, and talk of a pitch clock eventually making its way to the major league level. And yet, the length of games continue to increase, getting longer every year.
However, there is a way to change that without fundamentally altering the rules of the game. There may not be a need for those pitch clocks or limits on mound visits. Instead, all MLB needs to do is take a page from the past. It’s time to raise the mound once again and stop juicing the ball.
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For all of the talk about making games faster, there is also an obsession with the home run. It makes sense in a way – the chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa helped bring baseball back after the devastating strike in 1994. These days, players like Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger lead the highlight reels due to their prodigious power. Brilliant defensive plays may receive admiration, but chicks dig the long ball.
While home runs may be interesting, they also increase the length of games. That trot around the bases takes close to 20 seconds, and every baserunner leads to more time. Yes, runs need to be scored, but as scoring has increased, the length of the game has matched.
To stem that tide, it is time to swing the pendulum the other way. The game needs to have changes that help pitchers now. It is time to raise the mound once more, bringing it back to its former height, which was changed after the Year of the Pitcher in 1968. And, the baseballs themselves need to go back to what they had been even three years ago, before the composition changed, leading to the power explosion.
If the rules could change to improve offense in the game, then they can switch back. This way, the pace of play could improve, with games moving quicker due to a decrease in scoring. The game has evolved over the years, and will continue to do so. But maybe, what MLB is looking for is for the game to devolve in that aspect.
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MLB does not need to fundamentally alter the game. To improve the pace of play, all that is needed is to take a look to the past.