The 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) season kicked off on Thursday, March 30 and so far, the new season has been a success. Two big market teams kicked the 2023 regular season off with New York Yankees facing off in interleague play with the San Francisco Giants at 1:05 p.m. This game was just the first of a full 15-game slate, which included all 30 teams getting their seasons underway in hopes of an opening-day win. For MLB fans, outside of hoping for their team to win, lots of attention was focused on the new rules and how they would play out this season. Obviously, players had the chance to get comfortable with the rules in Spring Training, but how would the rules affect the regular season, as these games would count for something now?
There were multiple rules set in stone before this season got started, but the one that members of MLB hoped would change the game is the new pitch clock. The clock is 15 seconds when the bases are empty and 20 seconds when there are players on base. The league hoped that this could make the games shorter and cut out all the stalling that makes the games unnecessarily long. The end goal of this is to draw more fans in and keep up viewer attention fans and people can confidently confirm that this has worked.
Following the games played on April 2, the average time for each game was two hours and 38 minutes, 31 minutes shorter than 2022’s average game time. The quickest game up until that point was a bout between the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Guardians that lasted just two hours and four minutes, a game the Guardians won 2-0. Some fans, however, enjoy longer games, especially when it comes to postseason baseball. We will have to see how MLB adjusts over the season, and if they change the pace of play once the postseason is upon us.
The other substantial change came on the base paths. This season, pitchers are only allowed to try and pick off a runner on a base twice per batter. This has allowed runners to take bigger leads when on base, changing the game when it comes to stealing bases. In addition to this, rule makers decided to make the bases bigger, making them 18 square inches, as opposed to the 15 square inch bases used in previous years.
To some fans, this has made the game more entertaining with electrifying runners stealing more bases, and for some teams with lightning-fast runners, it has opened a bigger opportunity to put runners in scoring position and score more runs. For the Baltimore Orioles, they instantly took advantage of this new rule by stealing five bases on five tries in their Opening Day matchup against the Boston Red Sox. As of Sunday, April 9, the Orioles lead MLB in stolen bases with 15 stolen bases. They are led by shortstop Jorge Mateo and center fielder Cedric Mullins, who have five and four stolen bags, respectively.
One team that seems to have the early season shenanigans figured out is the Tampa Bay Rays, who, as of Sunday, April 9, hold the best record in the league. They not only have a perfect record of 9-0, but also have scored the most runs with a remarkable 64, and have allowed the least runs with just 17, pitching to a 2.13 earned run average. While they have played some of the worst teams in baseball, the Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics, it is still impressive to see how well the team is performing on both sides. Of course, it is only the first week and a half, but with the way they are playing, it is clear that the Rays are the early season favorites. Only time will tell if other teams will outperform them over the course of the season.
The new season has certainly been different than seasons past, but the changes have not taken the fun out of baseball. If anything, they are making the sport more fun, drawing in more viewer attention and making each at bat more thrilling. With about a week of baseball having been played, players and fans will only get more comfortable with the changes.
