Before the start of the 2023 season, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreed to make some rule changes that have been talked about for a while. The most notable of these changes include the banning of the shift, larger bases and the implementation of a pitch clock.

The least controversial of these changes has to be the larger bases. While they did look extremely weird at first, looking much larger than the original bases even though there is only about a three inch difference, I do not think this change is going to be one that stays in the headlines like the other two. 

The only way I can see these new bases making a huge difference is if the amount of stolen bases increases. However there is another rule that I think would also have an effect on how many runners are going to steal bases and steal bases successfully. 

That rule is the limit to how many times a pitcher can attempt to pick-off a runner at any base during one at-bat. The MLB now only allows for pitchers to throw over to the base a runner is at twice, instead of before where they could continue to check over and over again. With this rule being implemented, runners can now essentially take a free base if they know that a pitcher can not throw over to pick them off. I think we are going to see a lot more stolen bases because of this rule alone.

While this rule does help pace of play, by forcing pitchers to have to focus on the batter and only giving them a few chances to pick-off a runner, I feel it takes away a bit of the mind games that are played between a pitcher and a baserunner when the pitcher has already thrown over twice. Now, pitchers are probably better off not throwing over because it keeps the idea in the baserunners mind that the pitcher still has the ability to throw over.

One of the biggest rule changes has to be the banning of the shift. The shift was mainly used to take away hits from batters who had a hard time utilizing the entire field and analytics would show that they favor hitting the ball to one side of the field. In my eyes, if you are a professional hitter, you should be able to adjust to the shift and hit the ball away from the fielders. 

The shift also added some strategy to the game with the use of analytics, allowing for teams to shift to every single player based on where they favored to hit the ball. Without it, it takes that away. However, teams can still shift a little bit, but not as much, so we should see some players getting more hits than they have in previous seasons.

The last rule, but certainly not the least, is the new pitch clock. While a lot of people complain that it means less baseball, it definitely does not. All it does is take away the majority of the downtime people dislike making it so there is more action. We have already seen these new rules cut down total game time by about a half hour. Pitchers and batters taking time between pitches accounts for a whole 30 minutes. That is the part everyone calls boring and  that downtime has now been taken away.

In the long run, I think these rules will be accepted by all fans, it is just going to take a little bit of time to adjust.

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