Major League Baseball is going to look a lot different in 2023. A handful of rule changes are likely to have a significant impact on betting the game. At least with these – unlike the baseball, which changes from season to season – we know what they are and they are well-defined. Players got a crash course in how they would be implemented and enforced in Spring Training and the data was rather eye-opening.
The three main rule changes are the pitch clock, bigger bases and a ban on infield shifts. I’ll break these down one by one to look at the data from Spring Training and the potential impact for bettors.
Pitch Clock
– Pitchers are required to start their pitching motions within 15 seconds with nobody on base and 20 seconds with men on base
– The batter must be ready and looking at the pitcher with 8 seconds on the clock
– Pitchers are allowed two “disengagements” and batters are allowed one timeout (the number of disengagements resets if a runner advances to another base; a third disengagement is considered a balk)