It’s the dang weekend, Athletics Nation!
Yesterday, MLB published their new rules for next year’s season, many of which have been tested out in the minors and in the independent Atlantic League over the last few years.
As shown above, all three new rules are pretty major changes to the game. First off is the pitch clock, which has proven its effectiveness in the minors. Pitchers and hitters will have a clock visible to them that counts down remaining time between pitches. As explained, pitchers will have an additional 5 seconds when there are runners, but otherwise have a 15 second span between pitches once the batter has addressed the plate.