I don't think pace of play is the issue, although if you want to do something about that then enforce the pitch clock. It's an open secret that MLB changed the composition of the baseballs a few...
I don't think pace of play is the issue, although if you want to do something about that then enforce the pitch clock. It's an open secret that MLB changed the composition of the baseballs a few seasons ago and that's suspected to be the reason home runs have become commonplace to the point that they're not very exciting most of the time anymore. If the league encouraged more small ball and less three-true-outcomes I think it'd be in better shape. Also they need to market the shit out of their athletes, Mike Trout might be the GOAT in baseball's 100+ year history and the average person wouldn't know who he is like they know LeBron James.
A couple of years ago I went to see a game in Tokyo, and it flew by! Just over two hours. The big difference I noticed was that the Japanese hitters were not stepping out of the box after every...
A couple of years ago I went to see a game in Tokyo, and it flew by! Just over two hours. The big difference I noticed was that the Japanese hitters were not stepping out of the box after every pitch to adjust their batting gloves, take practice swings, etc. They stayed in there and the pitcher got the next pitch in nice and fast. In fact, the only hitter who slowed things down with all the usual stuff we see in the US was the one guy in the game from outside of Japan - a big slugger from one of the Latin American countries. The pace of play just dragged whenever that guy came up, and then picked up immediately after his at bats ended. After seeing that, I think keeping the batters in the box between pitches would go a long way towards speeding up the game - not only making the games shorter, but actually speeding up the pace.
We should also see fewer pitching changes next year because of a rule change - pitchers won't be able to be removed in the middle of an inning unless they have faced at least three batters. That should help shorten games, but won't accelerate the action.
I don't think pace of play is the issue, although if you want to do something about that then enforce the pitch clock. It's an open secret that MLB changed the composition of the baseballs a few seasons ago and that's suspected to be the reason home runs have become commonplace to the point that they're not very exciting most of the time anymore. If the league encouraged more small ball and less three-true-outcomes I think it'd be in better shape. Also they need to market the shit out of their athletes, Mike Trout might be the GOAT in baseball's 100+ year history and the average person wouldn't know who he is like they know LeBron James.
A couple of years ago I went to see a game in Tokyo, and it flew by! Just over two hours. The big difference I noticed was that the Japanese hitters were not stepping out of the box after every pitch to adjust their batting gloves, take practice swings, etc. They stayed in there and the pitcher got the next pitch in nice and fast. In fact, the only hitter who slowed things down with all the usual stuff we see in the US was the one guy in the game from outside of Japan - a big slugger from one of the Latin American countries. The pace of play just dragged whenever that guy came up, and then picked up immediately after his at bats ended. After seeing that, I think keeping the batters in the box between pitches would go a long way towards speeding up the game - not only making the games shorter, but actually speeding up the pace.
We should also see fewer pitching changes next year because of a rule change - pitchers won't be able to be removed in the middle of an inning unless they have faced at least three batters. That should help shorten games, but won't accelerate the action.