All-Play-All and Rule Changes
Photo by John Raoux | Associated Press
With the 2023 baseball season coming our way, fans are getting excited to see their favorite teams out in the ballpark. However, some things are going to look a little different for the 2023 Major League Baseball season. We all know baseball games tend to be long and usually drawn out, however with the changes that are being implemented, the league is hopeful that they will create a faster, more action packed pace; resulting in a better experience and atmosphere for the dedicated fans. The rule changes consist of, a restriction on defensive shift, a pitch clock with a pickoff limit, and bigger bases. Along with these adjustments to speed up the game, there will also be a new rule of who plays who.
This season each MLB team will play everyone for the first time in the league. No matter what division they are in, whether its the American or National league, or East, West, or Central division. With the implement of this new system, it means that the teams won’t play their division contenders 19 times like usual, but rather only 13 times this season to allow for these games against the new opponents. Each team will get to play one series against the 30 opponents from all of the divisions. This alteration allows for more fan exposure, creating matchups that fans may have not seen before and giving opportunities to draw in new crowds, creating anticipation to see dynamics between the teams.
As mentioned before there are some other rule changes following this upcoming season. With the defensive shift restriction it will give infielders more of a chance to go for the ball rather than having a better defender placed near the infielders spot. In addition, it will allow for batting averages to increase. Following that is the pitch clock and pickoff limit, both of these rules will allow for the game to run quicker. Normally MLB games run for about three hours but hopefully with the pitch timer, giving 20 seconds in between pitches with runners on the bases and 15 seconds when they are empty, it will speed up some of the dragged out time. In addition to this, when a pitcher is at the mound, they can now only have two attempts at a pickoff, rather than attempting multiple times, drawing out the time of the game even longer.
With these new changes and new opponent match ups it should be an intriguing season for baseball fans and their teams. It will be interesting to see how the season plays out and iff these modifications do work or cause chaos for the major leagues. Maybe there will be a new baseball rivalry that will emerge or an increase in performance from the teams. We will see how it all unravels as the 2023 seasons goes on.
