Take a good look—or wave good riddance. Baseball as we knew it is on its last breath. The game is in transition.
As the competition committee convenes to lock in rules changes for next season, the second half of this season is your last chance to see Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos take 32 seconds to throw a pitch and teams to deploy shifts a record 36% of the time, causing batting average on balls in play to plummet to its lowest level in 30 years.
The pitch timer and the ban on shifts are coming, along with larger bases. Players serving on the 11-person competition committee are Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals, Tyler Glasnow of the Rays, Whit Merrifield of the Royals and Austin Slater of the Giants. There has been some debate about when to stop the clock and how many times a pitcher is allowed to reset the timer by stepping off (it’s a limit of two in the minors), but there is no stopping the clock from coming next year.
