World Baseball Classic Illustrates Why Pitch Clock Should Not be Used in MLB Postseason

[ashbury]

8 hours ago, raindog said:

Counterpoint, someone made an edit of the Trout/Ohtani a-bat as if there was a pitch clock:

Still feels intense. And watching the 91 World Series doesn't feel any less intense because of how quick the pace was back then. 

That link also provided links to two different ways of providing a side-by-side comparison, of real-time versus edited.

This critical strikeout in the final inning is not improved (from the fan's perspective) by lengthening the time between pitches, using the edited version as a baseline.  There was plenty of time to anticipate and ponder.

If I weren't already in favor of enforcing the clock, I think this comparison would have won me over.  Even if I didn't personally care about games going 3.5 hours and longer, I would have to concede that no entertainment value is being sacrificed with the pitch clock enforcement, and if it's making someone else happier to be able to head home before 10 pm most nights, I'd be now on board.

I'll say again: absolutely nothing is lost by the still rather generous limit now imposed on pure dilly-dallying in the name of players collecting their thoughts.  The action is still all there, and it's only the dead time for the fan that is missing.  I always give Scott Boras a careful hearing when he weighs in on a topic because he's a student of the game, even if biased in certain obvious ways, but in this case I have to disagree with him - if performance by the players is slightly less than optimal, it affects batter and pitcher essentially equally, and the public who foots the bill is the beneficiary.

Long overdue and I'm thrilled with the early returns.

[Melissa Berman]

35 minutes ago, Alex Wilde said:

I agree with your take to an extent, but you can’t bring up other sports that have set time constraints for the games themselves because the comparison does not match up at all. Those rules are in place so that teams don’t use up the entire clock before a snap or shot, where as baseball is simply trying to speed up game play.

Yeah I did like how baseball was the one sport left without a clock on it- it made it unique. I was glad they put a clock on certain things, like time between innings. I think we'll all get used to it in time, but it will definitely take some time for me to equate length of a typical MLB game with that of an NBA game! Thanks for reading!

[jkcarew]

Yeah. I'm not convinced. It's just starting obviously, but I find myself enamored with the pitch clock. Way more than I thought I'd be. Right now not seeing how it would take away the enjoyment or drama of a WBC or a WS or an All-Star game. Maybe I'll feel differently when I've consumed a larger sample.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Saturday and Sunday day games in the World Series with the pitch clock sound like a grand experiment worth it to me. 

[Melissa Berman]

3 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Yeah. I'm not convinced. It's just starting obviously, but I find myself enamored with the pitch clock. Way more than I thought I'd be. Right now not seeing how it would take away the enjoyment or drama of a WBC or a WS or an All-Star game. Maybe I'll feel differently when I've consumed a larger sample.

No problems with the pitch clock for regular season for me! It'll be nice to move things along.. especially for those 16 home April games we have coming up! Brr! Thanks for reading!

[Melissa Berman]

2 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Saturday and Sunday day games in the World Series with the pitch clock sound like a grand experiment worth it to me. 

Your wish is their command! Hopefully the Twins can participate in that experiment!!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

4 hours ago, ashbury said:

I'll say again: absolutely nothing is lost by the still rather generous limit now imposed on pure dilly-dallying in the name of players collecting their thoughts.

I have to disagree. For the postseason, Fox Sports does this best, by far.

But here goes: 

I disagree because when Jhoan Duran is pitching with two outs in the top of the 9th inning of ALCS Game 6 later this October, with a trip to the World Series riding on the next pitch, there won't be time for camera cutaways to Byron Buxton's hard stare in center, patting his glove and spitting a sunflower seed, or to Alex Kirilloff at first base, the batting hero of the night yet his expression perfectly blank, or to Carlos Correa motioning something quick to the second baseman, or into the din of the crowd, where an older couple is huddled together in a Twins blanket somewhere, to a couple of younger fans in Twins caps with their hands clasped together in a prayer position under their chins, or into the dugout, where Rocco, calm as always, leans one leg forward against the step, and then the camera switches back to Duran for a moment, then a brief shot of the hitter, helplessly rocking his bat, and then back to the center field camera view (maybe a better baseball innovation than even the pitch clock!) as the camera starts with a wide pan on the entire scene at home plate, the pitcher, catcher and batter, the fans in the front rows standing and clapping, the camera narrowing a bit now as Duran comes set, the batter waiting for the inevitable, and Duran gives one more look and then steps back off the rubber to call time and wipe his brow... 

[Jocko87]

4 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I have to disagree. For the postseason, Fox Sports does this best, by far.

But here goes: 

I disagree because when Jhoan Duran is pitching with two outs in the top of the 9th inning of ALCS Game 6 later this October, with a trip to the World Series riding on the next pitch, there won't be time for camera cutaways to Byron Buxton's hard stare in center, patting his glove and spitting a sunflower seed, or to Alex Kirilloff at first base, the batting hero of the night yet his expression perfectly blank, or to Carlos Correa motioning something quick to the second baseman, or into the din of the crowd, where an older couple is huddled together in a Twins blanket somewhere, to a couple of younger fans in Twins caps with their hands clasped together in a prayer position under their chins, or into the dugout, where Rocco, calm as always, leans one leg forward against the step, and then the camera switches back to Duran for a moment, then a brief shot of the hitter, helplessly rocking his bat, and then back to the center field camera view (maybe a better baseball innovation than even the pitch clock!) as the camera starts with a wide pan on the entire scene at home plate, the pitcher, catcher and batter, the fans in the front rows standing and clapping, the camera narrowing a bit now as Duran comes set, the batter waiting for the inevitable, and Duran gives one more look and then steps back off the rubber to call time and wipe his brow... 

In this situation, there will be multiple feeds that show all of this stuff as well.  I run a 3 screen setup and will see it all, quickly. 🤣

[Jocko87]

I don't see any reason why we should have a different time for the postseason or late in games.  Play the rule, all the time.  I would include the ghost runner as well. 

We are in the midst of a deep, deep adjustment period and we need some time to see how this plays out.  We will have plenty of high leverage moments in the regular season to see how this plays out.  If anything, I could see them adding a couple of seconds as it feels really fast at this point but I think we will all adjust.

Its also rapidly filtering down to lower levels and I can tell you the results are stark.  I just got home from working two 12u games behind the plate.  These kids have gotten the message.  Twice in the last two weeks I had to call no pitch due to them working so fast umps aren't set or a foul ball hasn't been retrieved yet.  My internal clock has had to speed up quite a bit and I'm loving it.  I get paid by the game, not the hour.  😉

A year from now it will all feel normal.  Adding a couple seconds will probably be a discussion but at that point the actual time wont matter much as the results have been achieved.

[joefish]

Leave Boras out of these conversations.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

13 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

In this situation, there will be multiple feeds that show all of this stuff as well.  I run a 3 screen setup and will see it all, quickly. 🤣

Sure, we see the occasional split screen, but that only works in small doses, and mostly there will not be time for those beautiful scene-setting shots that help sell the moment and tell the story. If MLB leaves the pitch clock rule in place for the postseason, sure fans will adjust, but something will be lost in the process. 

I would even like to see something like removing the clock for the All Star Game, then tweaking the rule after the All Star Break some way. 

Fun fact : In the 2017 AL Wild Card game, the first inning alone took 45 minutes (and the first 40 of those minutes were fairly enjoyable)

[Jocko87]

42 minutes ago, joefish said:

Leave Boras out of these conversations.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on POV that's easier said than done.

[Bodie]

I won't miss 4-plus hour 9 onning games.  I have never once thought "I wish I could see another 7 minute Jeter at bat".  ESPN's Yankee-Red Sox games were just plain brutal to watch, regularly going almost 4 hours ( one I watched was just shy of 5 hrs. for 9 innings of constant batting glove adjustments and pitchers getting their steps in...  Complaints of a baseball junkie)

I have no doubt that the next WBC will be just as good with the new rules enforced. 

[Linus]

I disagree so strongly I would like to use swear words. Playoff games are the worst for time wasted. Watch the 1991 World Series. The game moved rapidly and nobody died and it was incredibly dramatic. Get over it.  

[Melissa Berman]

18 hours ago, Linus said:

I disagree so strongly I would like to use swear words. Playoff games are the worst for time wasted. Watch the 1991 World Series. The game moved rapidly and nobody died and it was incredibly dramatic. Get over it.  

I appreciate you not swearing. I like the pitch clock for the regular season. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment, 

[Melissa Berman]

On 3/31/2023 at 10:01 PM, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I have to disagree. For the postseason, Fox Sports does this best, by far.

But here goes: 

I disagree because when Jhoan Duran is pitching with two outs in the top of the 9th inning of ALCS Game 6 later this October, with a trip to the World Series riding on the next pitch, there won't be time for camera cutaways to Byron Buxton's hard stare in center, patting his glove and spitting a sunflower seed, or to Alex Kirilloff at first base, the batting hero of the night yet his expression perfectly blank, or to Carlos Correa motioning something quick to the second baseman, or into the din of the crowd, where an older couple is huddled together in a Twins blanket somewhere, to a couple of younger fans in Twins caps with their hands clasped together in a prayer position under their chins, or into the dugout, where Rocco, calm as always, leans one leg forward against the step, and then the camera switches back to Duran for a moment, then a brief shot of the hitter, helplessly rocking his bat, and then back to the center field camera view (maybe a better baseball innovation than even the pitch clock!) as the camera starts with a wide pan on the entire scene at home plate, the pitcher, catcher and batter, the fans in the front rows standing and clapping, the camera narrowing a bit now as Duran comes set, the batter waiting for the inevitable, and Duran gives one more look and then steps back off the rubber to call time and wipe his brow... 

Thanks for the well-thought out post and taking the time to read/ comment!

[Melissa Berman]

On 4/1/2023 at 11:35 AM, joefish said:

Leave Boras out of these conversations.

He is a mouthpiece for the 100+ high profile MLB clients of his. His thoughts are what the players' thoughts are. It's interesting to hear what players think of the postseason pitch clock. Therefore what Boras says here is relevant.

[Melissa Berman]

On 4/1/2023 at 12:19 PM, Jocko87 said:

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on POV that's easier said than done.

Boras isn't speaking for himself; he's relaying the opinions of his high profile clients. It's interesting & relevant to know what the players think of it