Since assuming the role of MLB Commissioner in 2015, Robert Manfred has made it known one of his main concerns with baseball is the pace of play. His first actions as commissioner included adding a clock to limit time in between innings and imposing stricter rules requiring batters to remain in the box in between pitches.
In his first season, the average MLB game was cut by eight minutes. But this season, the average duration has jumped up four minutes from the previous year. Many factors are causing this increase, but one that has become more prominent is the frequent pitching changes in the late innings of games.
In an interview with ESPN’s Mike & Mike, Manfred discussed the option of limiting the amount of pitching changes a team can make in one game. He feels the increased use of bullpen arms delays the game, as well as takes away action fans want to see.
When asked about a possible limit on relief appearances, Manfred responded with “I am in favor of something like that. We (MLB) spend a ton of time on this issue in the last few months.”
The Giants have the most one-batter relief appearances this season with 67 and no other team is even close. Bruce Bochy has earned a reputation as a manager with a fine-tuned bullpen strategy, which is a large part of what led the Giants to winning three World Series in five years.
“You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they’re so good,” Manfred said. “I’ve got nothing against relief pitchers but they do two things to the game; the pitching changes themselves slow the game down and our relief pitchers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game. So relief pitchers is a topic that is under active consideration. We’re talking about that a lot internally.”
It will be interesting to see what measures are proposed in the offseason if the length of the games continues to displease the commissioner.