Chicago Cubs: Minor League pace-of-play changes loom large

Rob Manfred / Chicago Cubs (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Rob Manfred / Chicago Cubs (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
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Chicago Cubs
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The league is playing with fire here

Okay, so you’re worried about game times. Making sure (or at least lessening) the odds of 15-inning contests is a logical place to start. But that’s not enough. In comes the pitch clock.

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The MLBPA has fought tooth-and-nail on most pace-of-play proposals in the last year – especially the pitch clock.

But since Minor League players aren’t part of the union, the league dropped this new pitch clock on these guys instead.

15-second limits for no one on base and 20-second clocks with men on. Most guys already adhere to these standards, but, I just don’t see it making a drastic enough difference to matter to most fans.

If my three-hour game now winds up at 2:48, I couldn’t care less. If a guy takes longer on the mound as part of his delivery, but gets my team results, so be it. Far be it from me to change his delivery or routine that’s gotten him to this point.

Really, I think this is going to have minimal impact – to the point I ask why even bother rubbing players the wrong way by implementing it.

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