MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, attending last night's Yankees-Twins AL Wild Card Game, said he remains optimistic of reaching an agreement with the MLBPA on pace-of-play rules changes that will be "meaningful." There have been ongoing talks between the league and union, and with what Manfred termed as "direct engagement with players." While Manfred has the unilateral ability this offseason to impose changes such as restrictions on mound visits and a pitch clock without player approval, he said he still prefers to reach an agreement. The continued pace-of-play talks come as the average game time during the '17 regular season rose to a new league record of more than three hours, five minutes (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
A DEEPER LOOK: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Costa & Diamond in a front-page piece note MLB has "never been more beset by inaction." Games this season "saw an average gap of 3 minutes, 48 seconds between balls in play, an all-time high." There were more pitcher substitutions "than ever, the most time between pitches on record and longer games than ever." The issue is "where MLB is headed." According to Nielsen, MLB's TV audience "had a median age of 57" in '16. That age, which "remained about the same" in '17, is up from a median of 52 in '06. The data showed that only 7% of baseball viewers were between the ages of 2-17, which puts MLB "closer to horse racing (5%)" than to the NBA (11%). MLB Chief Communications Officer Pat Courtney points to a recent "uptick in youth baseball participation, after a long-running decline, and the popularity of MLB’s mobile app." Even optimists in the industry "agree that youth interest and pace of play are related to one another and central to MLB’s future." The use of analytics is one of MLB’s "most acclaimed developments." The search for "competitive edges in a growing trove of information has also resulted in the kind of game MLB didn’t intend to create." Statistics showing when pitchers become "less effective have prompted teams to remove them from games earlier" -- with pitching changes being one of the "biggest drags on pace of play." MLB execs "don’t expect general managers or field managers to alter their strategies." Earlier this year, Manfred "appointed a 16-member committee comprising owners, team presidents, general managers and field managers to suggest potential changes." According to one member, the committee has "explored a range of possibilities that could diminish some of the impact analytics have had on pace of play" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/4).
