As baseball continues to try and find ways to make the games quicker and safer, four new rules have been announced by the Commissioner's Office.
On the first rule, you can thank the evil, malicious, pernicious, baleful Chase Utley. Players sliding into second base are no longer allowed to go far outside the baseline with the intent of breaking up a double play. The rules stem from an incident in last year's postseason in which Utley, then with the Dodgers, slid hard into an unsuspecting Ruben Tejada at second, breaking Tejada's leg.
The sliding rule will emphasize that the runner must slide prior to reaching second base, that he must slide in such a way that he is able to reach or touch the base, or at least make a reasonable and believable attempt to do so, that he slide in such a way that he stays on the base, and that the runner is not supposed to change his pathway to the base.