MLB Announces New Rules to Speed up Pace of Games

Major League Baseball is serious about speeding up the pace of its games. On Friday morning, the league announced its new regulations regarding the pace-of-game and video replay.

"These changes represent a step forward in our efforts to streamline the pace of play. The most fundamental starting point for improving the pace of the average game involves getting into and out of breaks seamlessly. In addition, the batter's box rule will help speed up a basic action of the game," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

According to the new rules, all batters must keep one foot in the batter's box. However, there will be exceptions to this rule. For example, both feet can be out of the batter's box if there is a wild pitch or if the batter is punting. There will also be timers installed to make sure that play resumes promptly after a commercial break. These timers will ideally help speed up time in between innings and pitching changes. The rules did not introduce a pitcher's time clock, which is being used in some minor league games.

In terms of video replay, managers will have to challenge replays from the dugout, which eliminates slow walks over to the umpires. The league will also add an extra manager's challenge for postseason games, regular-season tiebreakers and the All-Star game. There will be no instant replay used in spring training.

The new regulations were developed with the help of the players association and the umpires union. The average length of baseball games has continued to increase over the years. In 2014, a game lasted an average of 3.13 hours.

"We're confident that today's announcements will have a positive impact on the pace of the game without jeopardizing the integrity of the competition," said MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark.

The rules aim to prevent the length of games from increasing and will hopefully shorten the game as well.