This season, long time baseball fans saw some major changes to how the game was played among the professional ranks.
Chief among those was the institution of a “pitch clock” that shaved large chunks of time from the games. Ut even so, fans also saw a great deal more action in the form of stolen bases, more hits, and some impressive home run balls.
Other than confirming the fact that Americans have a decreased attention span when it comes to watching sporting events; what has been learned after the 2023 Major League Baseball season?
Players can sometimes be superstitious and are definitely creatures of habit; but they do know how to make adjustments and take advantage of the situation. As the season went along, pitchers…and batters…became accustomed to the 20 second pitch clock.
“Hit ‘em where they ain’t” returned this season with the elimination of the shift.
Bigger bases – sometimes those few extra inches can make a big difference – and no more shifts allowed for batters to get more hits…and steal some extra bases.
Atlanta Braves player Ronald Acuna Jr took full advantage of the new rules and not only set a new MLB record but obliterated it when he set the record with 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in a single season!
Baseball is cyclical where some years the pitchers rule the game and rack up record setting strike outs; then there are the years where the batters can’t seem to miss with the baseballs flying out of the park as if the pitchers were throwing soccer balls instead of baseballs.
In time the pitchers will adjust to the new rules and the stats will even out; but for now baseball fans have plenty to cheer about as they watch the crooked numbers fill the score boards.
Game times are down this year but the scores are up; in the end the new rules are a win for the fans.