September 22, 2014

Same Pace Next Year

MLB is concerned about the pace of games again. This seems like an on-going concern for the last 25 years, with brief breaks.

I suggest they do something similar to what Oakland did with their seating. Cut back on commercial time so the remaining minutes are more valuable. If beer, car, and cellular carriers really want to advertise on TV, they’ll need to bid up the 1:30 available to them. This should shorten games by about eight minutes, which should make up for the replay timeouts.

I also like the idea of a pitch clock. This works in both basketball and football. Have it a 12 seconds if there is no one on base, and 24 seconds if there is a runner on. There would be no stepping out of the box by the batter unless he has a physical problem (dust in the eye, for example).

Keep it simple and enforce the rules.

5 thoughts on “Same Pace Next Year

  1. Theron

    My idea: further limit coaching trips to the mound, which would also limit pitching changes. Give two visits to one pitcher as now, but only three total in an inning.

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  2. Ben

    I’d be interested in the side effects of a pitch clock regarding stolen bases. If a baserunner knew that the pitch was coming because the clock was winding down, then they could gain advantage could they not? That would make the effective pitch clock even shorter.

    Myself, I think the biggest game length problem is the amount of advertising between innings.

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  3. David Pinto Post author

    Ben » There actually is a time limit (20 seconds, I believe) between pitches with no one on base. It is not enforced. It goes away with men on base for the very reason you mention. If there is a clock, however, pitchers could vary at what point on the clock they throw home with a man on first. Throw at 15, throw at 15, then throw at 13 to fool the runner. Might add a whole new dimension to the game.

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  4. Devon

    I’m surprised MLB hasn’t done what soccer does – unintrusive ads on the screen during game play. Soccer doesn’t take time for commercial breaks except at half time. I think in addition to a pitch clock, this idea, if implemented right, could keep games moving. Sure the players need a moment to warm up at the start of each half inning, but that can be cut down a little. MLB could then sell two kinds of ads… ones during commercial breaks & ones that overlay on the screen somewhere during expected lulls in the action.

    Tom Tango had an idea on his blog a few weeks ago about how to keep the feel of the game moving along, but I forget what it was. I liked the blog post about it.

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  5. Scooter

    Now that you mention it, I think you’re right; the pitch clock could work even with runners. Since that’s where the real delays creep in, that’s the place for improvement. The few times I’ve timed it, it turns out most pitchers really do pitch within 12 seconds of getting the ball when the bags are empty.

    And I guess the clock (with runners on) would measure how long they could hold the ball without throwing it *somewhere*, either home or to a base. So the runner doesn’t know he’s going home.

    I’ve long been frustrated that commercials are the biggest and easiest-to-fix problem, because they’ll never give that up. If you scarcity argument persuades MLB, you have my vote for president.

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