After months of speculation about how new rules will change the game and a spring training filled with fast games and plenty of flubs, opening day of the 2023 Major League Baseball season is finally here. And for the first time since 1968, every M.L.B. team is starting its season on the same day.
The story lines are plentiful, even beyond the new rules. And with more than 12 hours of live baseball expected, there should be something for everyone.
The New Rules
It sounds like hyperbole, but M.L.B.’s three major rule changes for this season — a pitch clock, a ban on shifts and some tweaks to encourage more stolen bases — are perhaps the most sweeping single-season changes in modern baseball history.