WBSC Announces New Rules To Accelerate Baseball's Tempo

The World Baseball Softball Confederation announced new baseball rules to accelerate game tempo and make the sport more action-dense, targeting younger audiences and new generations of players and fans worldwide. The WBSC approved the review of a strict 12-second time limit between pitches, with testing and implementation to start at the youth (U12-U18) and Women's Baseball World Cups. The WBSC also approved an automatic intentional walk rule across all Baseball World Cups. Managers will now only have to signal to the umpires for an intentional walk to be issued. In addition, the WBSC will test a time limit of 90 seconds between (half) innings. The new 90-second rule will be under review at the Women's Baseball World Cup 2018 in Viera, Fla., from Aug. 22-31. The WBSC Exec Board will analyze other methods to improve the tempo of the game and reduce non-action sequences, making the game more compact and attractive to audiences, broadcasters, hosts/event organizers and players (WBSC).