The Chicago White Sox and Major League Baseball will see pitchers and catchers report this week. Now that the Super Bowl is over, it is time for baseball fans to get excited once again. The summer's game is about ready to get going.
There is a lot of talk about the fact that there are going to be some new rules this year. There is a new pitch clock that varies depending on the game situation, bigger bases, and a ban on the infield defensive shift which are all going to change the game.
Now, on Monday, we learned that an old implemented rule is going to stick around for a long time. According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, the rule that every regular season extra inning will begin with a runner on second base is going to remain. That is a huge story for this league.
It doesn't seem to be a very popular rule amongst the fans but the league liking it makes total sense. Pitchers aren't getting extra wear and tear on their arms and general managers have one less thing to worry about in a season.
The Chicago White Sox will still have to navigate the extra innings rule.
Breaking: MLB’s Joint Competition Committee has voted unanimously to make the extra inning rule permanent for all regular season games moving forward. (2023 and beyond). A runner will be placed at second base at the start of every extra inning. Story coming at espn
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 13, 2023
Taking all the emotion out of it, kind of crazy this rule would not exist without the pandemic. And I haven’t talked to an executive that doesn’t love it. But then again, it just makes their lives easier. No day after 18 inning roster headaches.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 13, 2023
We all know that there have to be moves made when teams have 18-inning duels that wipe out an entire pitching staff but those don't have to happen as much with this rule. 2023 will be the fourth year that the rule is in existence. Hopefully, Pedro Grifol is better than TLR at taking advantage.
It became a thing during the shortened pandemic 2020 season. It came to exist because the league wanted to make things easier on pitchers who had to come in and do a short year with no spring. Here we are all these years later and it is still in effect.
This rule was kept by a unanimous decision in addition to one other. The league also voted a change to the rule behind position players playing. A winning team has to be up by ten or more runs in the ninth inning to use a position players (anyone can pitch in extra innings).
For the losing team, they have to be trailing by eight or more runs in the ninth inning. That will certainly change some things but the extra innings rule is going to be the one that makes headlines.