Major League Baseball is bringing drastic changes to the game

From timers to removing special formations in the infield, The big leagues to start with novelties that want to speed up the game and that in the pre-season they shortened the duration of the matches by 26 minutes, he states MLB.

After years of debate, MLBthe American league, which is most associated with tradition, has decided to make a historic change, with a timer that will indicate the times for executing actions in the game.

Cowithout watches placed behind the plate and in the outfield, the batsmen They will have 30 seconds to report to the batter’s box between at-bats.

In the case of a pitcher, he is limited to 15 seconds to throw with the bases empty and 20 when he has runners on the bases, otherwise he will be charged with a foul throw or ball.

He dough He must be ready to play when the shot clock shows eight seconds until the end of the shot. Failure to do so will signal a ‘strike’.

This timer aims to reduce playing time, which last season, in games that ended in nine regulation innings, was 3 hours, 3 minutes, 44 straight.

In 2023 preseason games, there was a 26-minute reduction per game, compared to last year, according to MLB.

A pitcher can reset the pitch clock by coming off the mound and with runners on base, throwing, or turning toward the base where the runner is, but both actions are limited to two chances per batter.

If this rule is violated on the third attempt, the runner will be awarded an extra base.

Another change is that gameplay review requests must be made within a maximum of 15 seconds, not 20 like last season.

With limits on the number of times a pitcher can turn toward the bases to retire a runner and an increase in bag size from 15 inches to 18 inches, MLB tends to increase the number of base stealing attempts, which would give the game more dynamics.

Limitation on defensive formations

THE MLB He also imposed a limitation on defensive formations. Until last year, up to four players were allowed to defend on the same side of the field and this reduced the possibility for stoppers to carry out a more effective attack.

Now the rulebook requires teams to keep infield players in their positions, without moving to the same side of the field, which opens up more space for stoppers to put more balls in play.

The only exception to this rule is that managers will be able to mobilize one of their corner players in the field and rush him towards the area where the attacker most often hits the ball, but at the risk of leaving that field without a defender.

Among other rule changes, the use of a non-pitching position player as a pitcher will be subject to playing in extra innings when his team is down by at least eight runs or wins by at least 10 runs in the ninth inning.

MLB also approved the continuation of the automatic runner rule by starting the episode at second base in games that progress to extra innings, with the goal of ending games more quickly.