NFL
By: Greg Rector
I have to say the first month of the MLB season has been a great one for baseball fans thus far. Seeing baseball played at a great rate thanks to the pitch clock and the other changes has been great to see.
The Pitch Clock
The single biggest rule change for the 2023 MLB season has been the pitch clock and for my money, it has been phenomenal for baseball. The pitch clock has simply improved the game so much so. Not only are games going faster but because of the pitch clock the games are being played for around 2 and a half hours with some even barely even older than two hours. This has been so needed to improve the length of games so younger fans can watch without losing them to other distractions. Seeing games end long before they were just last season has truly made baseball more enjoyable. I have watched games from all over and seldom see where a pitcher isn’t ready to roll and the same with the hitters being ready to go in their 8 seconds.
Stolen Bases
The stolen base has returned to the game as well. That’s something also needed badly in the game. I saw a double steal even in a recent Blue Jays game!! Something you weren’t getting before the recent 3-inch larger bases. MLB games seeing stolen bases return at a much greater number makes the game fun to watch again. Seeing runners actually looking to get on base and do something other than waiting for a hitter to move them over has really improved the game.
Hitting is Improved
Seeing hitters go the other way and increasing their overall baseball averages, especially in hitting percentages has been fun to watch as well. I wrote about Matt Chapman in my Blue Jays pre-season article and begged to see him stop striking out so much. Well, this season he is hitting at over a .340 average and has not been striking out anywhere near the likelihood of last season. This has once again brought attention to the reason why hitters refused to hit with power to the other side when the “shift” was in use so much before that change happened this off-season as well. Why hitters have discovered the ability to take pitches the other way has again come into the fore.
The Fights Are On
Be it in the AL East or the NL West divisions were seeing great games and the division battles are even more important than ever since teams only play each other 14 times instead of the normal 19 games as in prior seasons. The St.Louis Cardinals have been struggling mightily and are a surprise in last place in the NL Central division has been a huge shock to me. The Kansas City Royals and Oakland A’s are both struggling as well at this point and will not surprise me at all to see all three of those teams struggle all season. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays are continuing to rock the MLB standings at an astonishing .800 clip after beating the New York Yankees yesterday are an amazing 28-7 mark thus far. The AL East has every team at over .500 and the AL West teams outside of the Oakland A’s are all over .500 as well. Gotta love seeing baseball games that are so much better this season than what we saw last season.
My Top 5 Teams
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Atlanta Braves
- Texas Rangers
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Baltimore Orioles
Let’s keep enjoying this high level of baseball being played currently, folks.
