major league baseball news & notes

Schedule semantics: Cutting the length of Major League Baseball’s regular-season schedule could be tied to reconfiguring the postseason Baseball players are increasingly complaining of the toll of playing 162 games in 183 days. The schedule was 154 games before the AL added eight games when it expanded in 1961, and the National League adopted the new format when it added two teams for the 1962 season. “A shortened schedule is a major, major economic issue,” Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “We sell out in a lot of markets in terms of gates. The gates are really valuable to us. We have television commitments. Each local contract varies, but there are game guarantees that could be affected by a shortened season.” Baseball’s national television contracts with Fox, ESPN and Turner run through the 2021 season and are based on the current format. The 30 teams have local broadcast deals that would be impacted by a schedule change. “Usually when you have a big economic issue where you’re giving up revenue, you got to figure out something that is offsetting in the other direction,” Manfred said, “and the one obvious possibility is you make a change in terms of playoff format. I’m not suggesting that we’re anywhere on either of those topics, but I do think if you shorten the season, there would be pressure to look at the postseason, as well.” Manfred said that in bargaining for a labor contract that starts with the 2016 season, management wanted to examine travel after Sunday night ESPN games, when players can arrive at their next destination at close to or past dawn. “We’re at a point in time where perhaps any number of things the guys are being asked to do are directly affecting the way they play, and that’s not beneficial for anybody,” union head Tony Clark said. “You’re hoping at the end of the day that you can put your head on the pillow anywhere between 4 and 5 a.m.”

On the clock: Baseball management is intrigued with the idea of using pitch clocks to speed play in the major leagues. The players’ association thinks it is a horrible idea. Adopting rules requiring hitters to keep at least one foot in the batter’s box and to put up clocks timing between-innings breaks led to the average time of a nine-inning game dropping to 2 hours, 53 minutes so far this season. That is down from 3:02 for the first half of 2014. “We decided that we would undertake a rather modest set of changes this year,” Manfred said. “We also made a decision to make a significant investment to test the 20-second pitch clock further at Double-A and Triple-A. We are really encouraged by the results of that experiment in terms of how it moves the games along. “Now how quickly that experiment or whether that experiment migrates to the big league level is going to be a product of conversations with the MLBPA.” At Triple-A, the average time for a nine-inning game has dropped 15 minutes to 2:41 in the International League and 13 minutes to 2:45 in the Pacific Coast League. At Double-A, the average has been cut 12 minutes to 2:38 in the Eastern League, 13 minutes to 2:39 in the Southern League and five minutes to 2:46 in the Texas League. At lower levels, times range from a five-minute decrease (Carolina and Midwest) to a seven-minute increase (Pioneer, a short-season league whose season started last month).

Safety (not) first: Major League Baseball is likely to wait until next season before making any changes to improve fan safety. A fan at Fenway Park was hospitalized after she was hit by a broken bat while sitting along the third-base line on June 5. MLB is studying whether netting should be expanded. “I don’t like to be reactive. Obviously, we had a very serious injury. It concerns us,” Manfred said. “But making a major change in the game in a reactive mode I believe is a mistake. I think the most likely course for us is that the evaluation will continue this season and whatever change, if we decide to make one, will be something that will be a new regulation applicable to the clubs for next year.” Teams may increase safety netting on their own. “We set minimum standards,” Manfred said. “Obviously the clubs remain free to do what they want to do in their own ballparks.”

Associated Press