Major League Baseball (MLB), which introduced new rules to speed up the game, is seeing results in just one month.
The Associated Press reported on the 2nd (Korean time) that the average game time per 9 innings for the first month of the season was 2 hours and 37 minutes in the major leagues, which was 28 minutes shorter than last year’s 3 hours, 3 hours and 5 minutes.
The biggest reason for this reduction in game time is the introduction of the pitch clock. The pitch clock introduced from this season requires pitchers to throw the ball within 15 seconds if there is no runner, and within 20 seconds if there is a notice. The batter must get into batting position with at least 8 seconds remaining on the pitch clock. In case of a rule violation, the pitcher gets 1 ball and the batter gets 1 strike.
There was also a backlash against the introduction of the pitch clock. However, as the game time has decreased noticeably, the opposite reaction to before the introduction is coming out. The Associated Press said, “Players and club staff can go home where their families are awake.”
In addition to the pitch clock this season, the Major League Secretariat made changes in various areas, such as prohibiting defensive shifts and increasing the size of the base. With the ban on defensive shifts, the batting average for left-handed hitters rose to 0.247 from the same period last year (0.229), and right-handed hitters rose from 0.234 to 0.250. 메이저놀이터
Increased base size has increased stolen bases by 40% in 25 years. This season, per game has increased from 1.0 to 1.4 compared to the same period last year. The stealing success rate also increased from 75.5% last year to 79.2%.
Theo Epstein, who advised on the introduction of MLB’s new rules, said, “The data effect is very good. The batting average and the number of stolen bases have increased, making the game more fun than scoring points with home runs.”