2023 Baseball Changes Only First Needed Step In Right Direction

While the pace of action has been restored, will younger generations of fans see enough games and even notice?

By David Maril

Baseball is providing even more hope and optimism than usual with the rule changes that have been implemented for the 2023 season. The modifications are heralded as a modernization of a game that has seemed too slow-paced in recent years.

The reality, however, is this isn’t a move revolutionizing baseball. What is actually being done is successfully restoring the game’s traditional, upbeat pace that had been disappearing from view the last 15 years. Without changes, we were approaching the threat of sloppy, four-hour games filled with inaction. It was getting to the point where you’d half expect to see on the game highlight films pitchers continually shaking off catchers and hitters constantly readjusting their batting gloves.

With pitchers and hitters now being monitored by a clock, there were concerns before spring training that the game might become disjointed. The players, however, adjusted and adapted as the exhibition game schedule progressed. The overall result is a 2023 season with the game returning to its traditional, mush brisker pace. Most of the games, even with numerous spring training player substitutions, were played in under three hours. The increase in the size of bases and the limit on pitchers throwing to first seems to result in more stolen bases and an increase of action compressed into less time.

SOME CONCERNS WERE RAISED that baseball would lose some of its charm that comes with being a timeless game. A few baseball observers wondered how Vin Scully, the late Hall of Fame Dodger announcer, would have managed with this new format. Would his style of personal story-telling, along with the insight and history he brought to his broadcasts, have suffered?

No worries. If you listen to recordings of Scully’s baseball broadcasts from decades ago, it’s obvious he wouldn’t have been impacted at all. He was always at ease and masterful in mixing in his stories and background with a smooth flow even back when games were played at the more upbeat tempo. Scully would have been right at home today describing baseball. And, there’s no reason today’s broadcasters won’t be able to adjust.

The more continuous flow of game action should have a positive effect on the quality of broadcasting, especially on radio. Former players, who provide color commentary, will have to learn and work at being more concise. This should go a long way to eliminating the babbling and needless smalltalk that too often dominated the airwaves, with announcers feeling the need to fill time in a slow paced game.

MY FAVORITE OF THE RULE CHANGES is the elimination of the exaggerated infield defensive shifts. The extreme shifts with three defensive players on one side of the infield for different types of hitters, was going too far. Having one side of an infield covered only by one player minimized the importance of the traditional, specific defensive skills of each position. Historically, there are certain characteristics connected to each infield position requiring specific skills and strongpoints.

A third baseman, for instance, doesn’t need speed, but must have extremely quick reactions and good hands. A strong arm helps, but because many chances are hit so hard to third, a quick release and accuracy are the keys.

Brooks Robinson, the greatest defensive third baseman in the history of baseball, was slow and, at best, had an average arm. However, his quick reactions, great hands and throwing accuracy made him a gold glover. If radical shifts had been introduced when Robinson was playing, it would have been absurd, and painful to watch, if he was sent shuffling over to the other side of second base every time a lefty pull-hitter was up.

Having different types of athletes at each position makes the game more interesting. Shortstops are the most multi-talented athletes in an infield. Second-basemen need to be nimble, have good footwork around the base and get rid of the ball quickly on double plays. First-basemen can be huge and slow but must have great hands.

The return of players full-time at their normal positions on the field will also mean a greater chance of more diving, acrobatic and exciting plays. The game reverts to more of a focus on players executing their skills, accenting their instincts and reactions. The over-shifts felt more like a competition between the analytics crew of each ball-club shifting players around, like magnets on a metal board, to cut down the percentages of hard hit baseballs getting through the infield.

It won’t be a surprise if we also see an increase in double plays, which will mean more respect for sinker-ball specialists and pitchers who rely on throwing off a hitter’s timing. While there’s an obsession with pitchers who have dominating strikeout velocity, there should also be room for hurlers who get outs off batters limited to making soft contact. With the middle infielder now restored to full time duty around second base, we should see more double plays, helping pitchers escape threats,

NEXT YEAR IT SEEMS LIKELY that the major leagues will add an automated balls and strikes system. The minor leagues have experimented with this and it seems to be a good idea. Anyone who watches a televised baseball game, with the strike-zone emphasized in the center-field camera shot, sees the number of calls on balls and strikes that are botched because of human error. Going to a system that calls balls and strikes consistently the whole game would definitely speed things up. There would be no room for questioning calls.

It would also eliminate the nonsense of catchers overdoing pitch framing, trying for favorable calls on pitches that are borderline or out of the zone. It would be refreshing to see catchers, able to go back to concentrating on pitch selection, preventing wild pitches and throwing runners out.

Along with these changes to speed up the game and make it more interesting, baseball needs to make the game accessible to younger generations of fans. There’s no question the game is generating plenty of profit from a mostly prime-time national and local TV broadcast schedule. Plush corporate level boxes and other expanded luxury seating, along with inflated prices for ballpark food and souvenirs, add to the revenue.

The value of all baseball franchises continue to rise, no matter how rotten a team’s won-lost record might be. Even the most frugal small-market owners are, they usually end up making unbelievable profits when they decide to sell to the their teams.

THIS RAISES THE QUESTION of whether there is enough motivation for owners to do whatever is needed to maintain competitiveness and strive for a championship.

One certainty is that in Boston there’s no doubt the fanbase, fully aware the Red Sox are close to the top in highest ticket prices, is motivated to demand winning results. There’s already heavy skepticism from the sports media and the team’s fans over Red Sox prospects in the American League East division race.

Even though a failure to keep franchise superstars (Babe Ruth, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, Roger Clemens, Mookie Betts, and Xander Bogaerts to name a few) is a part of the team’s history, this is a wealthy franchise. The team’s four world championships between 2004 and 2018 seem justification for maintaining a high-priced and talented roster.

Instead, the team seems on a mission to adopt the bargain-basement approach of the Tampa Rays, minus the Florida team’s impressive farm system. With this in mind, maybe it is appropriate for the team to focus on promoting its expanded new Fenway Park menu, offering such expensive delicacies as crab cakes and gourmet sandwich selections plus a variety of vegetarian dishes.

WHILE THE LACK of depth and quality of the team’s player roster is under scrutiny, there can be no debate that Boston baseball has come a long way in food and snack possibilities. The Fenway Park experience is a sharp contrast to my first visit, as a college freshman on Sept. 28th in 1968, to watch what turned out to be Mickey Mantle’s last major league baseball game.

On the next to last day of the that season, a bunch of us piled into a car and drove from Clark University in Worcester to Boston, hoping we would see Mantle hit his final homer. The 36-year-old superstar had managed, despite his numerous injuries, to play in 144 games. Although hitting just .237 and forced to play mostly first-base, he did slam 18 homers.

His lifetime batting average had dropped below .300 and there was speculation he would decide to retire.

We took traffic-jammed Route-9 in all the way, instead of the Mass. Pike, to save on tolls. It didn’t require much of an effort to to find a free parking space, close to the ball park. In those days bleacher seats weren’t reserved and we bought tickets outside the gate, moments before the park opened.

We watched Mantle intently in the top of the first inning stride into the batter’s box to face Jim Lonborg. We were hoping home run number 537 would be driven in our direction. Mantle, swung hard but popped out weakly to shortstop Rico Petrocelli.

It turned out to be his only at-bat and he never played again. The following spring, he announced his retirement.

Even though this was just a year after the Red Sox had shocked baseball by reaching the World Series in their Impossible Dream season, Mantle’s last game drew just 25,514 fans on a warm, sunny afternoon.

In those days, Fenway Park was much more accessible to youngsters, college kids, and every day fans. They were usually plenty of seats available and games were affordable. You could drive in for a night game and park for free on Brookline Avenue at metered spaces that were only in effect until 6 PM. If you missed out on those, you could drive around the corner to Louis Pasteur Drive, also offering free parking.

In the Mickey Mantle and George Scott era, Fenway had one of the most limited ballpark food menus in major league baseball. Steamed hotdogs, which seemed more as if they were boiled, was the main option. The use of credit cards for ballpark purchases was unheard of. Thin, tasteless hamburgers were sold at a few, select concession stands. But they seemed to be in short supply. When you ordered one, the concessionaire would give you a strange look, as if you obviously had never been to Fenway, and didn’t know what you were buying into.

WHILE TODAY’S BASEBALL is definitely catering to the more affluent crowd, it is failing to develop a strong base of young fans. What happens when TV ratings eventually crash because few people are watching? Today, not even diehard baseball fans will make the case the game remains the National Past-Time.

For the most part, young fans are not watching or attending baseball games. Shohei Ohtani, the most intriguing and all-around dominant baseball player since Babe Ruth, receives limited national exposure. He plays all of his games for a losing Angels’ franchise that is so embarrassed by its Anaheim location it pretends, with its official name, to be located in Los Angeles. Mike Trout, Ohtani’s superstar teammate, is in the same boat.

Making matters worse, most of their games are played late at night, on west coast time, unseen by the populated east coast. The excitement of watching Ohtani clinch the World Baseball title for Japan by facing, and striking out Trout, should drive home awareness of the opportunities baseball is missing out on to promote its dominant superstars.

Increasing the chances for fans to see more teams and players might turn out to one of the benefits of the new, more balanced schedule format going into effect this year. Every team will be playing one series each season against all the teams from the other league. The home games for these inter-league matchups will rotate from season to season. The Giants opened this year at Yankee Stadium and next season New York will travel to San Francisco.

The schedule format change does, however, cut down on the number of games between teams in their own divisions and traditional rivalries. For example, the Dodgers and Giants make only two trips into each other’s city. The Dodgers visit San Francisco in April and don’t return until September.

This is a definite step towards dissolving the structure of having both a National and American League. The rumor floating around is that after baseball’s next expansion, teams will be divided into three leagues (East, Central and West) according to geography.

PERHAPS IT WOULD make sense to sacrifice a bit of the short-term TV money from prime-time broadcasts today to invest long-term in the future, reducing the total number of night games and creating a few more matinee dates.

One or two extra day games a week, especially on weekends, would allow more school age fans to attend. This would also expand the opportunity to watch a wider range of games on TV being played in different time zones.

It would be interesting to research how the Chicago Cubs playing a higher number of day games than other teams impacts the ballclub’s percentage of young fans.