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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Some MLBers Planning Proposals To Speed Up Games This Offseason

Limiting the number of mound visits was one way MLB tried to speed up the game this seasonGETTY IMAGES

Free agent 2B Brian Dozier said that MLBers "plan to present their own proposals for speeding up games" this winter, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. While Dozier "wouldn't say" what those proposals were, he "understood the need for them." He said, "Baseball might be a little drawn out. I think that's what makes baseball rather unique. It's without a clock. Some things we could keep cleaning up. We've done a good job of that the past few years, and we'll continue to do that, just to speed it up a little." Shaikin notes other MLBers would also "appreciate it if the league would listen closely to their ideas on how to market the game," as well as its stars. In return, the players "should appreciate that the game is an entertainment product," and a "lethargic product can tempt consumers to change the channel." In both "reality and in image," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred's "dogged pursuit of a 20-second pitch clock has backfired." It leaves the "false impression that knocking three minutes off the game time will solve the riddle of slow play, and it antagonizes the players who resent the 'agree to this, or else' push from the owners." Shaikin: "Why is three hours too long for an MLB game, but not too long for an NFL game?" In part, it is because the NFL does "not talk about how long its games are." Manfred "should stop talking so much about that" (L.A. TIMES, 10/31).

STIFF COMPETITION: In Minneapolis, Jim Souhan writes the "tug-of-war between baseball and football for American hearts, minds, eyeballs and clicks ended long ago." What has changed this year is that football "began winning the taste war on merit." With new rules that "enhance offense and quarterback health, the NFL is the most consistently thrilling sport in America." Baseball, with rules that "anger traditionalists and repel undecideds," may have "reached its nadir as a form of entertainment." MLB's problem is that it is "going backwards while the NFL is surviving some of its problems and solving others" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/31).

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