re: MLB approves no-pitch IBB for 2017 pending union approval

quote:

---

And all of this "speeding up the game" stuff isn't going to somehow make the game itself be played faster. Cutting down total minutes does not change the pace of the game itself. Baseball will always be a slow meticulous game. It is what it is. Pitchers are still going to step off the mound when a runner is on base. Pitchers will still attempt to pick off runners. Batters will step out if a pitcher is taking to long to throw. There really is nothing you can do to make baseball into a sport that it is not unless you just want to have a homerun derby replace the sport.

---

Recent efforts on pace of play focus on eliminating things with little or no value to the fan. No one gets value from a thirty second conference before a change is made. The mind game stuff adds drama. The perfunctory things like warm up throws and mound visits don't. Then you have things like pitch clocks when the bases are empty which have had great results. Doesn't jeopardize the drama and moves the game along (frick you, Steve Trachsel). There are plenty of things that can be done as fan service that have limited impact on the actual game. That's what mlb is trying to do.