An Early Look at the Impact of MLB Rule Changes

Nearly one month into baseball season, the excitement is once again at a high level at ballparks and in households around the country.

But even though the excitement is familiar, the game we're watching has changed noticeably from previous seasons.

This season, nearly 36% of 9-inning games have finished in under 2.5 hours, with the average time of a 9-inning game down 27 minutes from last season (3:03 in 2022, 2:36 in 2023). And after combining to average 8.5 runs per game in 2022, teams have totaled nearly 9.2 runs per game this season.

Essentially, that means more action in less time.

Nashville Stars baseball advisor and historian Skip Nipper is pleased to see one of the sport’s most influential changes — the pitch clock — shortening games and having a significant effect on gameplay.

“The pitch clock has sped up the game and has been a positive addition to games,” Nipper said.

“Games are shorter so far this season by about 30 minutes, a return to game times in the 1970s," Nipper added. "That is a positive for fans, as the game had become too leisurely. I would rather see more action than a player taking his time on the mound and at the plate.”

Dan Bellino, vice president of the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, concurs.

“The first few weeks have been great,” Bellino said. “I’ve observed in the stadium that fans aren’t sticking their heads in their iPhones anymore. Fans are actually watching the games because there isn’t that downtime. The engagement with the fans is so much better than it was in previous years.”

Thanks to the pitch clock, Bellino has also noticed some on-field changes aside from the simple increased pace.

“If a batter goes into the box and two strikes get called on him quickly, he’s likely to ask for time,” Bellino said. “You could be 0-2 in 15 seconds. Nobody wants to go down swinging in 22 seconds. So the hitter says, 'Hold on, I need a second here.' You kind of anticipate that’s where they’re going. And it’s good to know because we want to make sure we’re in sync with them.

“The one thing I’ve noticed the most is that there is less interaction at the plate with the catcher, the batter, and the umpire,” Bellino added. “It used to be that there were the pleasantries: ‘Hey, how you doing? Good to see you.’ They still will tap the shin guards. But everyone understands we’re on a clock. The catchers and batters don’t really have time to engage in conversation. That’s the biggest change I did not expect to see.”

The league also established a pair of changes aimed at driving higher levels of offense during the course of a game: banning the “shift” by mandating that two infielders be on each side of second base and increasing the size of bases from 15 square inches to 18 square inches. With these changes, the league-wide batting average on balls in play (.295) is on pace for its highest rate since 2019, and the 2023 stolen base success rate (78.8%) is on track to surpass the all-time single-season record (75.7%) by more than 3%.

“Larger bases were instituted to give renewed importance to base-running,” Nipper said, “and I believe that has paid off as a contrast to getting a player to first base and hoping the next batter would hit a home run to get him home. The strategy of moving runners has returned.”

As teams adapt to this refreshed version of gameplay, Nipper believes that fans can expect the sport to continue evolving in an effort to embrace these changes.

“The main object of baseball is to score runs,” Nipper said. “Managers and coaches have accepted the revisions to the rules and cannot rely solely on the objective metrics to tell how a player can perform as the game has been played previously.”

“New rule changes have added that element to baseball in a positive way, especially as to how fan interest seems to have increased,” Nipper added. “I read an article recently that stated positive interest by fans for the 2023 season was 4-to-1 over negative reactions. That is impressive and is exactly what baseball was hoping for.”

Bellino pointed out that players have also been reacting positively to these changes.

“You see these young guys who are kind of new to the big leagues and have been doing this already, it’s second nature to them,” Bellino said. “When you come across the veterans, the guys who have been around and are on the back ends of their careers, I’ve spoken with a few of them, and they’re just like, 'These are great, I really like this, you take away some of the lag.'"

“The greatest game of all is baseball, and baseball fans embrace the game for the purity of it,” Nipper said. “In all of baseball's imperfections, it is perfect, and has stood the test of time since the 19th century.

Nipper concluded: “One day, we will be able to attend games in Nashville and experience it in the best baseball setting in the best baseball town of all.”