Play ball, and hurry up about it

Pitchers are dawdlers. Between pitches they aimlessly stroll the mound, move their cap up and down, take a quick glance at the baseball. Has it changed?

Then, after a long squint toward home plate comes the debate with the catcher. Four-seam fastball? No. Slider? Nah. Sinker? Aah, yes. Through it all, fans patiently wait. It's America's pastime, after all.

Well, no more dawdling.

The 2023 season is underway, bringing a bevy of rule change — including a pitch clock to quicken the game's plodding pace. Pitchers will have 15 seconds between pitches to deliver the next one, 20 seconds if there's a baserunner.

Other rule changes include a limit of no more than two pickoff attempts per plate appearance, bigger bases, and a ban on infield shifts.

Of course, the sport has more than its share of purists ripping up their Rod Carew baseball cards in disgust. One of baseball's hallmarks is tradition. Baseball's National League got started in 1876, while the American League dates back to 1901. The distance between bases remains as it always has — 90 feet, and it's still 60 feet, six inches between the pitching rubber and the rear point of home plate.

Tradition does indeed matter when it comes to the Boys of Summer. What would a day at the ballpark be without "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" merrily sung by a capacity crowd under a warm July sun?

Yet an ancient Greek philosopher said that the only constant in life is change. It's not as if decades of baseball have gone by without a few tweaks. During COVID in 2020, Major League Baseball started putting a runner on second base at the beginning of extra innings to speed up the game, and in 2023 the rule became permanent for the regular season.

In the late 1960s, the mound was lowered and the strike zone shrank to counter pitchers' rising dominance of the game. Later, changes were made to make the game safer.

Other sports have changed with the times. Basketball introduced the three-point line in 1979. There was a time when shootouts had no place in either hockey or soccer. Football seems to roll out rule changes every year, many of which lately are aimed at preventing injuries.

If there's one aspect of baseball that should remain off-limits, it's the postseason. Every minute of postseason baseball is something to savor.

With that caveat, we think regular season baseball needs streamlining. Grand slams, pitching duels, dazzling double plays and suicide squeezes will still enthrall fans in bleachers and on couches, even if the pace of the game quickens a bit. And more games will conclude while young fans are still awake.