To The Surprise Of Nobody With A Brain, The Pitch Clock Is Working Splendidly. Game Times Are Down, Batting Averages and Stolen Bases Are Up. And Ballparks Are Selling Beers Longer.

Front Office Sports- During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said he’s “thrilled” with the new rule changes transforming the Grand Old Game.

He should be. MLB’s controversial decision to install a pitch clock, widen the bases and ban defensive shifts appears to accomplish what the league and fans wanted.

Rob can pump him and his boys up all he wants, but we all know he’s full of shit. But stats don’t lie, right?

• The New York Yankees’ YES Network is off to its best viewership start since 2018. Heading into Monday night’s game, YES Network averaged 380,000 viewers, up 9% from last season. The Yankees’ 5-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday averaged 423,000 viewers.
• MLB Network posted its most-watched Opening Day in its 14-year history. The network’s telecast of the Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants averaged 348,000 viewers, up 7% vs. the comparable time-period telecast in 2022. It was MLB Network’s best daytime showcase game since 2012.
• Across MLB, the average game time was 31 minutes shorter over the first 11 days of the 2023 regular season. The average time for nine-inning games was 2.38 vs. 3:09 during the same period last season – and 3:04 by season’s end.
• Batting average avengers were up to .249 vs. .233 during the first 11 games of the season and .243 by season’s end.
• Stolen bases are up too. During the first 11 days, teams averaged 1.3 stolen bases per 1.7 attempts for a 79.6% success rate. During last season, teams averaged 1.0 stolen base per 1.3 attempts for a 74.0 success rate.

I think we all knew that actually enforcing this pitch clock would be big for the game, but did anybody see it having this kind of affect? This fast?

I’ll be completely honest. I didn’t. 

MLB actually tried to install a shot clock like 3-4 seasons ago, out in center field at all the parks. It was 30 seconds between hitters and 15 seconds between pitches. The only problem was players totally ignored it, and umpires didn’t enforce it. 

The ONLY thing it was good for was mound visits, pitching change warm ups, and in between innings (2:35). Those were the only things the umps actually enforced and rode the players and pitching coaches on. The batters still had all the time in the world to go through their routines.

(Fun fact - the first player to start stepping out of the box between every pitch to get reset was the Milwaukee Brewers’ Gorman Thomas in the late 70s. Before that, every batter got set and stayed in the box until they made contact or struck out. (H/t Dana))

 In between pitches and before stepping into the box, the umps didn’t give a shit. (Even though MLB told all of us production team members they only had 15 seconds.) And you’d also have guys up there on the hill like Yu Darvish who would contemplate the meaning of the universe in between shaking off signs from his catcher taking all day between deliveries. It was a joke. 

Until now.

(Sidebar- we were known at Wrigley for running the players walk up songs extremely long. Especially compared to other ballparks. I did this 1- as a courtesy to the Cubs players. 2- as a courtesy to the fans who liked to a actually hear more than a split second of the players chosen song. (I’m not Jeff Lowe on the Dozen). And 3- because the MLB rule they tried to threaten us with at the beginning of every season to only play 10-14 second maximum of each walk up was a joke. Playing a snippet that short while the guy coming up strode to the plate, then cutting it before he’s even in the box, having the batter stand outside the box adjusting his gear, looking down the 3rd base line to get signs, digging his back foot in trying to get to China, stepping back out, readjusting his gear, doing the sign of the cross, and stepping back in to receive the pitch, ALL WHILE ITS SILENT was a joke. So we’d run the song right up until they had a foot in the box and they were about to put their 2nd foot in. The players loved it. So much so that visiting teams catchers used to always ask Cubs hitters, and guys who got on based used to always ask Rizzo how come they got to have their music run so long. One guy who did NOT like it however was that shit bag Angel Hernandez. Besides being the worst umpire in baseball, he also hated music. And fun. There were numerous times he was behind the plate that he’d turn around, look up at the press box, waving his hands and yelling to cut the music. What a hater.)

So long story short, I had optimism this time around. Mainly because Theo is behind this whole thing, but also because the league realized (finally) it’s in deep shit and needs to change with the times. For real. 

Doing away with the nonsense was surely going to have an impact that would increase areas average fans all enjoy, duh. But who honestly saw this happening this quickly?

We all knew things could only get better, but I didn’t see such positive change happening basically overnight, so suddenly. I thought hitters would have to adjust just as much as pitchers.

Averages and stolen bases are both FINALLY up. After years and years of decline, players can hit for average again, and players can steal bases. 

Pitchers will eventually adjust and learn to hold guys on and deliver even quicker from the stretch, but being rushed to decide and deliver a strike isn’t so easy when you only have a few seconds as opposed to forever. (I also saw a crazy stat on catchers getting the ball back to the mound vs. ones who take an extra .5-1.5 seconds and pitcher’s ball/strike ratio on twitter but I can’t find it now. Baseball nerds man.)

And of course, let’s not forget about the shift -

• The end of defensive shifts appears to be helping left-handed and right-handed batters equally. The batting average for left-handed batters was .245 compared to .236 during the same period last year – and .247 by season’s end. Right-handed batters are hitting .253 vs. .236 during the same period the previous season and .247 by the season’s end.

Fucking Amen!! 

If you didn’t see this coming, or think that the shift was the worst thing that happened to baseball you have rocks in your head. I’m all for defensive strategy. I’m also somebody who enjoys watching the .01% of humans who can hit a curveball, actually be able to hit. And not ground out to the short stop in right center. Let the big dogs eat.

Oh yah, and the beers!

AP- To combat that time crunch, at least four teams — the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers — have extended alcohol sales through the eighth inning this season. Others, like the Miami Marlins and New York Mets, still have seventh-inning cutoffs, but haven’t ruled out changes.

It’s all coming together.

So we owe baseball a big round of applause for getting this right. Because credit where credits due. Even if it’s overdue.

Now if they can just shorten the season up so games mean more, players take them more seriously and play harder, and we aren’t starting the season in fucking freezing cold March, playing in cold weather cities, we’ll really be cooking with gas.

My fixes to save baseball - 

- 101 game seasons

- season begins in late April or early may. Actual spring these days. And if you must start in May, play games in warm weather cities or parks with domes. Having teams play in Detroit, Cleveland, NY, and Chicago in March and April is forced and stupid. Miserable for fans and hurts players stats. 

- end the season in October. Like it’s supposed to. Fewer regular season games allows for the longer playoffs. No more November baseball. 

- no more 9pm start times. Doesn’t matter if game times aren’t running 4-5 hours anymore. Starting playoff games at 9pm eastern for tv is bullshit. You want to grow the game back? Start focusing on the kids. Step 1- is allowing kids to actually be able to stay up and watch it.

- more day time games while we’re at. Nothing beats daytime baseball. Nothing.

- make teams play one or two noon and 4pm double headers a month on a Saturday or Sunday in June, July, and August while kids are out of school. And offer a single ticket for a fair price. Imagine being able to take your kids to two games at Wrigley on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? And be home before 9 o’clock? It would be amazing.

- make it a federal law that Trout and Ohtani have to be dealt to teams people actually watch and that will play meaningful, playoff baseball. Having those two stuck on the Angels is like having Mozart compose the “Oh, oh, oh, O’reilly, auto parts” jingles.

- have players use aluminum bats in the home run derby and put targets on the moon. Must watch tv.

P.s.- if you thought Nomar’s routine was unbearable (gfy), that was nothing compared to this guy Gorman Thomas