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2023 was a big year for Major League Baseball, as they implemented pretty big changes that modified how the game is played: Bigger bases, banning the shift, and most importantly, a pitch clock. At first glance, fans were skeptical about these changes, however worked out pretty well.
With the success these rules had, MLB is expecting to expand them and modify them for the 2024 season, with the pitch clock expected to be one of those rules to be changed for next year despite being recently implemented.
Pitch clock reduced?
According to Jeff Passan from ESPN, Major League Baseball's competition committee is expecting to propose a reduction on the pitch clock with runners on base from 20 seconds to 18 starting next season, per a source. The 15-second pitch clock with the bases empty would remain the same.
The reasoning behind this proposal is that during the last month of the regular season, the average duration of games increased by seven minutes. At the end of the year, the average game lasted 2 hours and 46 minutes, 20 minutes less than in 2022, having an average game time of 3 hours and 6 minutes.
The 2023 season was a success
The rule changes were considered a wide success, as MLB finished the regular season with a total attendance of more than 70 million people, which is up 9.6% from 2022, being the highest attendance since 2017.
Also, regional TV Networks saw a spike in ratings of 7% compared to last year, despite the World Series being the least watched on record.