In an effort to speed up the game and limit the time between pitches during games, Major League Baseball is rolling out a new pitch clock this year that will force a pitch to be thrown within 15 seconds with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners on base.
The move was designed to improve the flow of games and lead to shorter contests. And through just a few spring training games, it appears to have worked.
As New York Mets reporter Steve Gelbs pointed out on Twitter, all three of the New York Mets’ spring training games this year have been under three hours, with the times lasting two hours and 33 minutes, two hours and 34 minutes, and two hours and 28 minutes.
Obviously, these games are much shorter than we’re used to and it’s very clear that the game times are significantly impacted by the league’s new pitch clock. And as a result, the Major League Baseball world had plenty to say about it all on Twitter.
Whether or not this change is good for baseball is certainly up for debate, but it’s quite clear that the new pitch clock is doing what it was designed to do.
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