GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The pitch clock has arrived in Major League Baseball. It’s here to stay, and that’s a wonderful thing, no matter how loudly people howl on Twitter or anyplace else about the end of Saturday’s Braves-Red Sox game in Florida.
Bottom of the ninth, tie game, bases loaded, two out, full count. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? Of course when Braves minor league outfielder Cal Conley (of Texas Tech) was called for a violation of the pitch clock — he wasn’t looking at the pitcher when the clock struck eight! — the game was over, ending in a tie.
Now imagine if it wasn’t a tie game. And imagine it’s the regular season. Or, as Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy said Sunday morning, “I can’t imagine if it’s the seventh game of the World Series and you walk off like that. You’d have a lot of stunned people.’’
