Limiting Time Between Innings
Another rule to be experimented on during the 2019 MLB season calls for limiting the time between innings and pitching changes from 2:05 to 1:45
This one is rather minor, and it doesn’t seem like it would have any real impact on the game. The biggest impact of this would be on baseball’s business interests, as cutting off 20 seconds of commercials would take a significant chunk out of MLB’s revenue.
The question that led me to put this one so low on my list is this: why does MLB feel like it needs to test this out? It seems like if MLB really wanted to implement this, they could do it tomorrow and it wouldn’t change anything in the game.
Is it possible that less time for pitchers to warm up could increase injuries? Maybe, but probably not. Maybe MLB is simply testing this rule for PR reasons, as it would suggest that they are willing to take a hit to their revenue to speed up the game without any actual intention to do it in major league games. It’s strange that this rule change is on the list.