When the Major League Baseball season begins in the spring, fans will notice some changes.  While some will be obvious, others are more subtle and may take some time to fully be understood.

Among the obvious changes, fans will notice the larger bases and the lack of shifting by the players.  Not quite as obvious will be a game that is a bit faster with a pitch clock and a limit on the number of times a pitcher can make a pickoff move.

Prior to 1997, each of the two leagues – American and National – played only each other until the champions of each league played in the World Series.  In 1997, MLB established interleague play where some of the teams played each other.  Beginning with the 2023 season, the schedule will be balanced and every team will play each other for the first time.

The new format will eliminate one team in a division from dominating the others since the number of games against its fellow division teams.  To date, there are five teams who still haven’t faced one of the best pitchers in the league – Shohei Ohtani -; the new scheduling format will ensure that every team will play every other. 

Another big change this season will be the largest rookie class of umpires in over 20 years.

At the end of last season, there were a number of umpire retirements; leaving a number of positions to be filled.  MLB has promoted 10 Minor League umpires to the Major Leagues.  In addition, seven current umpires have been promoted to crew chief; including two umpires of colour to make a total of three in the Major League.

Among the new promoted umpires are four who came through the ranks via the MLB Umpire Camps – a free camp to teach people how to be a baseball umpire – and two umpires who are veterans of the United States Air Force.

The new umpires are Erich Bacchus, Adam Beck, Nestor Ceja, Shane Livensparger, Nick Mahrley, Brennan Miller, Malachi Moore, Edwin Moscoso, Alex Tosi, and Junior Valentine.

The new class of crew chiefs are Lance Barksdale, Dan Bellino, Chris Conroy, James Hoye, Adrian Johnson, Alan Porter, and Todd Tichenor.

Umpires Ted Barrett, Marty Foster, Greg Gibson, Tom Hallion, Sam Holbrook Jerry Meals, Paul Nauert, Jim Reynolds, Tim Timmons, and Bill Welke all had over 20 years of MLB umpiring experience before their retirement at the end of the 2022 MLB season.  Between them, they worked a total of 18 World Series with Ted Barrett being the only umpire to have worked multiple perfect games.