Coping with MLB changes isn't accepting them
- Brett Hiner: A Work in Progress
- April 27, 2023
- 458
If my memories of my college Greek philosophy course hold true, I think it was Heraclitus who said something to the effect of the only constant in life is change, something with which I wholeheartedly agree. Whether personally or professionally, change seems to blow in as often as an early spring Ohio windstorm, leaving yards filled with sticks and debris and, if you are living in my neighborhood, a likely power outage.
To be clear, I am not opposed to change. Anyone who is is likely to live a life of agitation, not too dissimilar from the cantankerous Statler and Waldorf of “The Muppet Show” fame, heckling the world from a private loge. These days we live in a world of Statlers and Waldorfs. The problem, of course, is no one complains as well or is as entertaining when doing so. Nevertheless, I have learned coping with necessary change does help lower the blood pressure. Acceptance of it, however? Well, that is another thing altogether.
That is the attitude I had as Major League Baseball began announcing the massive changes impacting the sport — changes that have taken full effect a month into the current MLB season.
Most of these changes deal with the pace of play. Games take too long! Pitchers do not need a minute in between throwing pitches! Batters surely do not need to step outside the batter’s box, hit their cleats with their bat, stare at the barrel, send an homage to Jobu and then step back in, do they? Maybe MLB might be justified with their thinking.
In 2022 the average length of an MLB game hovered north of the three-hour mark, and with their new rules in place, the average game length, year to date, is down by 31 minutes. Players and managers alike seem to be on board.
“I think they’re good for the game,” Guardians manager Terry Francona told the Associated Press two weeks into the current season. “The goal was not to have them get in the way of how we play.”
What I have not heard anyone mention — and maybe the reason for it is obvious — is the real issue has to do with the art of baseball itself, not the pace of play. After all, an average NFL game is three hours and 12 minutes (nine minutes longer than MLB games last year), and college football, with its high-stake revenue connected to advertisers, goes on for three hours and 27 minutes.
Kickoff for Ohio State’s eventual loss to Georgia in the 2022 Peach Bowl came at 8:21 p.m. Three hours and 39 minutes later, the missed field goal by Ohio State’s Noah Ruggles ended the game and came as the clock struck midnight to start 2023.
Yet no one is complaining about the length of those sports because the action is incessant. Baseball, by nature, is quieter. It requires patience, both for those playing the game and those watching from home or at the ballpark. And MLB is arguing, without directly saying so, that if it is to sustain any form of popularity with younger audiences — and maybe even its younger players — patience must go away. The action needs to move quicker.
Younger generations of fans who have been raised on cellphones and the constant need to be entertained, or be entertaining, are not going to find a 13-minute, 21-pitch at bat — as Brandon Belt experienced when facing Jaime Baria back in 2018 — exciting sport. That is not a criticism of Generation Z, Generation Alpha or whatever the current labels are enveloping today’s youth. It is a reality and one the rule makers at MLB headquarters are listening to.
I wanted to hold off on any real judgements on the changes until the season began. I needed to experience some games on television, some games listening to Tom Hamilton, and, assuredly, a game or two at the ballpark. And I will admit the games do lend themselves to more excitement.
Eliminating the shift is working. Batters are hitting .310 on balls in play, up from .292 last season.
The bases are now 18 square inches, as opposed to the previous 15, and the stolen base success rate has jumped from 74% to 87.5%.
On average, baseball television viewership is up 11%.
In other words fans are getting more action for their buck in a shorter amount of time, and somewhere folks inside MLB headquarters are saying, “I told you so.”
Sadly, the unintended consequences for me — and really the only issues I have with these changes — come in the art of storytelling and calmness, which I have always associated most with this sport.
I have listened to bits and pieces of probably half of the Guardians games this season, and Hamilton, the best there is at his job, has become much more of a play-by-play announcer than color commentator. In years past he brilliantly wove the two together — the current game pace does not allow for as many anecdotes or off-the-cuff moments that have become synonymous with Tommy. Baseball storytelling is missing.
I have been to two games thus far, one with my son and one with my wife, and you cannot help but stare at the pitch clocks (three could be seen pretty easily from our seats). I equate it to the shot clock in basketball or the play clock in football, but much more visibly obnoxious. And if there is any kind of line for the restroom or concessions, you now miss an inning of baseball rather than one at bat or two. Patience has gone missing.
Nevertheless, at the risk of turning into Statler or Waldorf — I have never known which was which — I am hoping acceptance of the rule changes will come. If not, I fear leaving the ballpark will sound something like this:
Statler: “You know, there is nothing like baseball.”
Waldorf: “Yep and that was nothing like it.”
Brett Hiner is an English/language arts teacher at Wooster High School, where he also serves as the yearbook advisor and Drama Club advisor/director. If he’s not at work or doing something work related, he is typically annoying his children and/or wife. He can be emailed at workinprogressWWN@gmail.com.