MLB forms 'Pace of Game Committee'
Major League Baseball has formed a new committee to study the issue of the pace of play. Specifically, the goal of the Pace of Game Committee is to focus "on decreasing time of game and improving the overall pace of play in the 2015 regular season and beyond."
"We have the greatest game in the world, but we are always looking for ways to improve it," commissioner Bud Selig said in a press release. "The game is at its highest levels of popularity and we will continue to strive to identify ways that can build on its stature well into the future. With the cooperation of all appropriate parties, we can make progress on improving the pace of play, and we will have recommendations in the very near future for the 2015 season. I believe that this group has the experience and the perspective to be mindful of our game's traditions while being creative about our approach in the future."
The committee will be chaired by Braves president John Schuerholz and also includes Mets GM Sandy Alderson, MLBPA director Tony Clark, soon-to-be commissioner Rob Manfred, Red Sox executives Tom Werner and Michael Gordon and MLB executive Joe Torre.
MLB games this season are averaging more than three hours for the first time in history while scoring is at its lowest point since 1976.
I believe a major part of the problem in game pacing this season has been the poor implementation of replay. Giving managers challenges and letting them walk out to the umpires to delay the game while someone in the dugout watches a replay before deciding whether or not to challenge is such a waste of time. I've been saying it all season, but there should be a replay official who decides whether or not to review plays and then immediately makes the decision. It shouldn't take more than a minute if the replay official is paying attention.
Otherwise, the time between pitches can be crushing to the entertainment factor. Rule 8.04 states that pitchers have 12 seconds to throw a pitch once the batter is in the box: "The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball."
Major League Baseball can get with the umpires and the players to make sure this is not only strictly enforced, but that players are forced to stop spending so much time outside the batter's box between pitches. A system of fines could be put in to force players to stop messing around between pitches.
Further measures could be taken, but if replay were streamlined and time between pitches was better enforced, a lot of the dead air in MLB games would be eliminated.
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