Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Rob Manfred Says MLB Will Implement Pace-of-Play Rule Changes Next Season

Scott Polacek

Expect a quicker pace of play during games in the 2018 Major League Baseball season. 

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday there will be new pace-of-play rule changes implemented for the upcoming year, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Nightengale noted Manfred explained the rule changes will be put in place by the start of spring training games either through unilateral implementation or negotiations with the union.

This comes after Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports cited sources Wednesday saying the league wanted pace-of-play negotiations finished by this point but will instead continue to talk with the union as the season approaches.

While Passan said "no drop-dead date has been set yet" for official rule changes, he granted the league has the option to unilaterally impose them—echoing Manfred's Thursday comments.

According to Michael Bradburn of The Score, the average length of nine-inning games last season was three hours and five minutes, which stands as a record.

Various options could be in play in an effort to cut down on that final figure and also improve the overall pace of games with more action instead of downtime, such as pitch clocks and a limit to how many times managers and pitching coaches can visit mounds throughout a game.

"Football is four hours, 4 ½ hours," Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said when expressing disagreement with potential rule changes, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. "The Super Bowl was five hours. Baseball fans are not going to stop watching because the game is too long. Let's stop that. I think that's ridiculous."

Jansen also pointed to different hitting approaches in today's game as a natural explanation, with batters swinging for home runs and a proliferation of strikeouts as a result. More strikeouts means less ball-in-play action, slowing the pace of the game in ways that go beyond just the sheer number of hours it takes to play.

According to ESPN.com, the average pitching staff accumulated 1,337 strikeouts in 2017 compared to a total of 1,073 just 10 years ago in 2007.

Although it may take unilateral implementation if the players don't agree, Manfred is determined to increase pace of play in the coming year after a slowdown in 2017.

   

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