Cubs' Jed Hoyer says baseball should be a movie, not a mini-series

It's no secret Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein remain close, even after the latter departed the Cubs organization following the 2020 season for a job with Major League Baseball. After all, the two worked side-by-side for years, with their efforts culminating in a long-sought World Series championship back in 2016.

Knowing that, it makes sense Hoyer has nothing but good things to say about his former mentor when asked even today. In a sitdown with The Athletic (subscription required), he poured praise on Epstein, who has played a pivotal role in shaping the game with its major rule changes that include larger bases, a ban on infield shifts and a pitch clock.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer loves the MLB rule changes, especially the new pitch clock

Hoyer, for his part, is a huge supporter of the changes, saying the pace and length of games had gotten out of hand in recent years, saying every day on the diamond should, "be a movie, it shouldn’t be a mini-series."

What a large contingent of fans don't seem to understand is that these rules will really get game times back to where they were for decades from the 1950s to 1980s. In the mid-80s, games started getting longer, eclipsing the 3-hour average league-wide for the first time in 2000 before dipping back below that mark until 2012 - when they climbed back above the 3:00 mark and haven't retreated since.

Personally, I've found the quickened pace this spring to be a welcome change and, when the camera angles are locked in and I can't see the pitch clock on the backstop, almost unnoticable until the game ends, I look up and it hasn't been 3 1/2 or 4 hours. More action, a more engaging product to watch - it's really checked all the boxes for me to this point.