Baseball’s Pitch Clock is a Great Idea
20 years ago, during hot Washington D.C. summers, there was nothing more appealing than turning on the TV for Sunday or Wednesday Night baseball. The Nationals hadn’t arrived yet, and it was before the days of Twitter, ESPNNews, or MLB.TV in order to watch out of market games. It was during those days that I discovered my love of baseball and its incredible ability to draw me in for hours at a time. Even more so, I quickly discovered that while there were many excuses or reasons I could try to use to stall an impeding “Go to bed”, which (ridiculously enough in my 10 year old opinion) was always before the West Coast games, baseball always had this ability to draw itself out, especially when I promised my parents I’d go to bed “after this inning”.
During those days that I found myself loving an extra inning pitcher’s duel, or a Tony LaRussa parade of pitchers extravaganza where 7 pitchers would be used for 3 innings, the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2011. Baseball was not only my passion, but it gave me the best catch phrases my friends hadn’t heard yet (Thank you for “Boo-Yah!”, Stuart Scott) and a reason to stay up late. With those memories in mind, it is with a heavy heart that I tell you the Pitch Clock that Rob Manfred, baseball’s young and still proving-himself commissioner, has proposed is exactly what’s needed to save our beloved sport.
Rob Manfred has been a champion of game efficiency and the pitch clock since he came into power. He understands that while baseball fans are loyal and determined, the world has moved on from being able to sit for 3.5 hours at a time in a ballpark, much less stay tuned to the same channel for that duration. People just don’t have the attention span with 700+ channels, DVRs, smart phones, and literally thousands of sports blogs and Podcasts (including 3rd String Podcast!) in order to be satisfied with the same low budget local commercials or the same national teaser about some big match up with dramatic music. And that’s not counting the same jokes, stories, and “human interest” stories that seem to resound every broadcast: Did you know Yasiel Puig had a truly horrifying journey to escape Cuba and make it to the United States or that David Freese was so down on his luck before his miracle run in St. Louis he slept on friends’ couches during the World Series? Of course you did, because you’ve watched baseball before. And if you hadn’t, these airtime fills aren’t enough to woo you in to next week’s national broadcast. Vin Scully’s captivating voice and long-distance dedication delivery simply doesn’t exist in the broadcast world anymore, so why continue to force these 2 man teams to fill dead air even longer?
On average in 2017, a Major League Baseball game lasted 3 hours and 5 minutes. This is not talking about playoff games, rain delays, or games with substantial stoppages due to injury. Instead this looks at every regular season game from early April when half of the MLB is playing in long-sleeves and fans are drinking hot chocolate through late September. It also includes “getaway days” where ballparks are half-full because Americans cannot skip work to catch a Thursday 1 PM start, or regular season games that goes until 11PM on a Wednesday night in June, when everyone leaves in the 7th because kids attend “year-round” school. The American landscape has changed, and Major League Baseball has been notoriously bad at adapting to its fan-base, much less society.
I contend… no.., I declare… That this will be the most beneficial thing that has happened to baseball since its institution of replay in 2009. Replay has slowed the game by mere minutes, once or twice a game, while ensuring the integrity of the game. Back in the late-2000’s, young fans growing up watching football and basketball could not understand why baseball would not want to decisively guarantee to their fans they were getting the best product available. Despite the nay saying, disbelief, and downright anger around it initially, baseball made a change based on technology and what the fans wanted. Baseball understood that fans no longer were willing to tolerate mistakes that were reversible, and they demanded their sport catch up.
It’s time baseball also understands that the American pastime isn’t built on time as much as it is excitement. Many people love that there’s no clock in baseball, but try explaining that to a 9 year old who is getting restless in the upper deck. Even worse, imagine it’s only the 6th inning while it’s the 3rd time the catcher has gone to the mound in the last 2 innings. We shouldn’t cater the sport to the lowest common denominator (those are the 24 year old fans who have had too many Miller Lites, not the young fans mind you), but we should acknowledge when the sport is losing touch with its core and casual fans alike, who are increasingly leaving early and changing the channel. Look at sports ratings and fan attendance across the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. They are all losing people for different reasons. But every league is in it a blitz to fix it, except baseball. This could take baseball out of 4th place in fan understanding and propel it to 1st while other sports fight CTE, increasing technical fouls, and safety concerns.
Several baseball “purists”, are against this rule. Allegedly, it will reduce some of the gamesmanship, some of the drama, and some of the intricacies that makes our game so great. Pitchers will no longer be able to conduct their customary two laps around the mound then chew their gum exactly seven times before staring in for a sign. Nomar Garciaparra would no longer be able to unstrap, then re-velcro his batting gloves 3 times, before tapping the plate in exactly the same place three times, all the while preparing to be ready for a pitch. According to the system currently in place in the minor leagues most likely to be adapted, if a pitcher does not deliver the pitch in 20 seconds, it’s a ball. If a batter is outside of the batter’s box after 30 seconds, it’s a strike. Of course there are dozens of variables, but this new rule, seizing on the fact that the average time in MLB between pitches this year was 23 seconds, could have monumental changes to a game that on average sees over 296 pitches delivered (148 per team as of 2016). In theory, that’s the difference between 113 minutes of pure gametime (not including mound visits, inning changes, actual plays, etc) and 99 minutes of gametime. That’s almost 15 minutes!
Several players are on record as saying this could force players to feel rushed, or increase the possibility for injury, and that’s valid. Players will need to change their regimens. While I certainly understand the MLBPA’s side on this, their apparent willingness to step back and allow this rule change to happen, even after opposing it with a vote but later saying they’d accept it, shows a willingness to work with a rule that has been positive in Double A baseball back to 2014, and Triple A in 2015. All players who came up after 2014 (over 40% of the league) have already dealt with this and learned to work with it. Players don’t love it, but accept it makes their game more captivating to fans.
It will take adjustment, and it will be hard for many. In the macro view of sports worldwide, it isn’t even debatable that there is no more pivotal position than a pitcher to their baseball team. There are dozens of aces who have been in the league since the mid-2000’s who will have to reevaluate every aspect of an appearance. Hundreds of bullpen relievers will have to look at their 3 outs as being even more of a whirlwind. It will force the game of chess to be that much quicker (3 whole seconds!), and it will require pitchers to be more deliberate. But the days of Abner Doubleday are behind us, its 2018.
Love it or hate it, it’s time to get with the times and speed up the game. I can fly from Minneapolis, MN to Los Angeles, CA in less time than it takes to watch 1 iteration of the 18 total times the Yankees will play the Red Sox this season. This clock will be a great step for baseball. It will take some mindset changes, but soon we will hopefully see restrictions on mound visits and different stall techniques to continue to propel this overall effort. Our sport simply cannot survive without understanding the product needs to be more dynamic and less standing around.
Looking at it now, I’m sorry to tell you, 10 year old me, but you’re going to bed earlier this season. But trust me, that in 20 years, you’ll be glad they did this.
