CHICAGO — Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel chimed in Monday night on Twitter after watching Japan’s epic comeback win over Mexico in a World Baseball Classic semifinal.
“Another great WBC game with no pitch clock, shift bans, bigger bases or pick off rules,” Trachsel wrote.
For the generation of baseball fans unfamiliar with the name, it should be noted that Trachsel was renowned for being among the slowest-working pitchers in the game, referred to by some as the “Human Rain Delay.” Writers loved talking to him because he always had something interesting to say, but we hated the days Trachsel started because his games took forever.
Trachsel later told former Cubs media relations head and blogger Chuck Wasserstrom “there was probably a good five-year period where my infielders probably thought it was painful for them” to play whenever he took the mound,.
“I know it was painful for some umpires as well,” he said. “There would be comments made by them beforehand, especially the guys behind the plate: ‘Oh, God, I’ve got Trachsel’s game.’ ”
While the new pitch-clock rules instituted this year had players like Trachsel in mind, he was absolutely right about the WBC game. No pitch clock was used under WBC rules, but no one seemed to mind the 3 1/2-hour game.
In a playoff-type atmosphere with every pitch important in a tight game, no one is worried about the game dragging. Baseball’s bigger concern come playoff time is the late starting times that lead to millions of kids going to bed and missing out on the best part.
The players did this to themselves, of course, with their endless procrastinating on mounds and outside of batter’s boxes. The readjusting of batting gloves and the constant need to take a couple of deep breaths before every pitch led to the three-hour-plus games MLB was forced to reckon with.
We’ve seen in spring training that the new pitch timers work, and games have moved briskly without anyone complaining about their “purity.”
Only one of the Cubs’ Cactus League games has taken more than three hours, and that was the opener against the San Francisco Giants (3 hours, 6 minutes). They played one game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2 hours, 4 minutes.
But these are exhibition games, and fans are used to leaving early no matter how long they take. We’ll find out in the regular season how players adjust — and whether some take advantage of the rules to outthink the opposition.
Last week in Florida, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Thompson tried to quick pitch Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who barely got set at the required eight-second mark before the pitch was made. Thompson apologized afterward to d’Arnaud, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m being kind of a jerk, but I’m trying to figure out the rules, too, and trying to see what I can and can’t do,’” Thompson said.
Whenever there are rules to skirt, there will be people trying to find ways to get around them, and that’s fine with me.
MLB has talked about speeding up the game for more than two decades. Back in 2003, umpires were allowed to call an automatic strike if the hitter procrastinated, and pitchers were told to deliver within 12 seconds of the batter stepping into the box. A violation would lead to an automatic ball.
Commissioner Bud Selig had a 12-minute “speed-it-up” video shown to teams during spring training. Naturally, Trachsel was featured prominently in the video.
But umpires didn’t enforce the rules, which led to even longer games. Enter Rules Czar Theo Epstein, who finally persuaded baseball to quit talking about doing it and just make the necessary changes.
I’m not anti-pitch clock, though I do admit to being anti-walk-up music after watching too many hitters take forever to get into the box so they could hear a few more seconds of their signature song.
But perhaps MLB should rethink its decision to use the pitch clock in the postseason. If the WBC games are any indication, the length of games is irrelevant to fans when the importance is magnified and everyone is into every pitch.
While baseball officials haven’t discussed altering the rule for the postseason, it’s possible they could decide to make a change as they see how it plays out during the regular season.
Over the winter, agent Scott Boras argued against using the timer in the playoffs.
“It’s the moment, the big moment,” Boras said. “They need to reflect, they need more time. It’s a different scenario than the regular season, and we do not want their performances rushed.”
MLB saw fit to start using the “ghost runner” in extra innings in 2020 to shorten games during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was smart enough to realize the postseason is a different animal and thus reverted to the old-school extra-inning rules in October.
MLB made the rule permanent going into 2023, but the postseason rules still eliminate ghost runners. Old-school rules still rule when the season is on the line.
I understand MLB wants to shorten postseason games as well. More fans are tuning in, and baseball doesn’t want them tuning out. But it would be a shame to see a postseason game decided by a pitch-clock violation, as seems inevitable even after six months of regular-season games to get used to the timer.
Epstein told The Athletic in January that safeguards would protect a game from being decided by such a violation.
“Every hitter has a timeout each and every plate appearance, where if the game is going too fast, you need a little bit more time, you can simply call timeout and gather your thoughts and reset the timer that way,” he said. “When there are runners on base, every pitcher can step off twice per plate appearance with impunity and reset the clock and gather your thoughts and move forward. And then you get two more if a runner advances.”
Guess we’ll find out in October.
Perhaps Epstein should create a special subcommittee to debate whether the pitch clock should be turned off in the postseason. He could even bring in Trachsel as an expert witness to make the case for the anti-clock crowd.
I’m sure his soliloquy wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours — though Epstein might want to put a time limit on it, just in case.
