Think back to the 2023 offseason when MLB implemented a number of rule changes in an attempt to pick up the pace of play and add more action. By adding bigger bases and limiting pitcher disengagements, MLB hoped to make 2023 the “Year of the Stolen Base.”
It worked.
As Bleed Cubbie Blue’s Al Yellen wrote last October when the dust had settled on the 2023 season:
Scoring (9.2 runs per game in 2023 vs. 8.6 per game in 2022), stolen base attempts (1.8 per game in 2023 vs. 1.4 per game in 2022), stolen bases (1.