The power to alter the rules to accelerate the pace of action -- or to forcibly negotiate the alterations it wants -- is contained within Article XVIII of the collective bargaining agreement, page 77.

[weams]

http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/16805/olney-baseball-keeps-getting-slower-but-change-will-come-by-2018

The wording is thought to be a long-standing holdover from the 1970s, and while it’s not exactly clear why this section was added at that particular time, it certainly is handy now for commissioner Rob Manfred as he endeavors to hasten the way the sport is played, to better reflect the attention spans of these times: "[T]he right of the Clubs to make any rule change whatsoever shall not be impaired or limited in any way," so long as MLB gives notice to the union one season in advance -- which it has already done. The areas of focus for MLB are on the time between pitches and the growing number of meetings among pitchers, catchers and infielders.

[NCRaven]

How many times did the A's catcher go to the mound in the 8th and 9th innings yesterday?  Sheesh!

[weams]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/02/mlb-mound-visits-pace-of-play-initiatives.html

Quote

...teams will be limited to six non-pitching-change mound visits per nine-inning game. In extra-inning games, teams will receive one additional non-pitching-change mound visit per inning.

Major League Baseball will also reduce between-innings down time to 2:05 during locally televised regular season games, 2:25 during nationally televised regular season games and 2:55 during tiebreaker and postseason contests. There will be no pitch clock implemented for the 2018 season.

... mound visits are defined as: “a manager or coach trip to the mound to meet with the pitcher” and “a player leaving his position to confer with the pitcher, including a pitcher leaving the mound to confer with another player … regardless of where the visit occurs or the length of the visit.”

... here are notable exceptions to the mound visit rules as well. Communication between players and pitchers which “occur between batters in the normal course of play and do not require either the position player(s) or the pitcher to relocate” are still permitted, as are visits from position players to clean their spikes in rainy conditions, injury-related visits and visits following the announcement of an offensive substitution.

Once all six visits have been used, catchers may appeal to the umpires to make an additional mound visit in the instance of a cross-up between signs. Cross-up visits prior to the limit being reached will still count against the six-visit limit.

Punishment for violation of these rules will be subject to commissioner discretion: “Players who consistently or flagrantly violate the time limits will be subject to progressive discipline for just cause by the Office of the Commissioner pursuant to Article XI(C) of the Basic Agreement.”

...Teams’ video review rooms will now receive “direct slow motion camera angles” for the 2018 season, and phone lines “connecting the video review rooms and the dugout” will be installed and monitored so that they are not used for the purposes of sign stealing.

3

 

[Satyr3206]

Baseball, like many sports, gets played at certain pace. Get used to it or find another sport.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, weams said:

...teams will be limited to six non-pitching-change mound visits per nine-inning game.

That's really sticking it to them.  I was going to insert an overly long piece of snark here, but I'll just let the statement stand on its own.  "Limited to six."  You're basically saying the defensive team gets to call a time out six times a game, plus however many times they want to do a mid-inning pitching change.  So... 8, 10 or more timeouts a game.  For each team! 

If you really wanted to make an impact you'd just say that you can't go congregate on the mound, period.  And all pitching changes come from the dugout.  If a 30-year-old major league pitcher really, really needs to be talked down from the ledge by a pitching coach he can do it between innings, or maybe we just increase the number of medical exemptions for anti-anxiety drugs.

[DrungoHazewood]

51 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

Baseball, like many sports, gets played at certain pace. Get used to it or find another sport.

Before lights baseball was played at a much quicker pace.

Luckily for baseball's sake they've found a revenue model that doesn't depend on the fans actually paying attention to most of the game. 

[OrioleLochRaven]

I haven't seen this mentioned...why don't they edit the televised product instead of messing with the live product?

You never see someone at a game with a cold beer in their hand complaining about the length of time they have to be there enjoying a live game.

Why don't they start the televised game 20 minutes later and edit mound visits and game interruptions down so there is more continuous action. The only possible drawback is social media spoiling game/play outcomes, which may be a big drawback for some.

[Three Run Homer]

The current efforts to increase the pace of play are largely focused on forcing pitchers to have less rest between pitches, and to some extent giving relievers less time to warm up.  In my opinion these efforts will backfire.  Less effective pitchers will translate into more run scoring, longer innings and longer games.  

The most fool proof way to shorten the game is to make the strike zone bigger.  Of course this may not have the desired impact on fan interest, since fans like scoring.  

[DrungoHazewood]

13 minutes ago, OrioleLochRaven said:

You never see someone at a game with a cold beer in their hand complaining about the length of time they have to be there enjoying a live game.

If the home team is losing 12-2 in the 7th the stands start looking pretty empty.  And if the game goes into extras and it's a Tuesday in May you'll be lucky if a third of the crowd sticks around to the end.

You did use the cold beer qualifier, so I guess you meant for us to stop counting in the 7th.  Plus, the third pitching change of the inning is more exciting when you're drunk.

[Beef Supreme]

5 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Before lights baseball was played at a much quicker pace.

Luckily for baseball's sake they've found a revenue model that doesn't depend on the fans actually paying attention to most of the game.

Before television, baseball was played at a much quicker pace. Any change to improve pace of play that fails to shorten the time between innings is a waste of effort. There is a minimum of 20 minutes that could be shaved off of every single game played. Baseball needs to creatively monetize the game during the innings if it wants to shorten the length of games while not losing advertising revenue.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

The current efforts to increase the pace of play are largely focused on forcing pitchers to have less rest between pitches, and to some extent giving relievers less time to warm up.  In my opinion these efforts will backfire.  Less effective pitchers will translate into more run scoring, longer innings and longer games.  

The most fool proof way to shorten the game is to make the strike zone bigger.  Of course this may not have the desired impact on fan interest, since fans like scoring.  

I know it's not a simple thing to change the culture of the game with a wave of the hand.  But we know from 100 years of history that with the proper motivations you can play very briskly-paced baseball with no impact to quality.  Or none that anyone would care about.  Baseball became the national pastime as a quickly-paced game that needed to have everything wrapped up before the sun went down.

1930 was the highest scoring year since 1900.  They didn't keep track of all the game times back then, but of the roughly half the schedule they did, the Yanks played exactly two games over three hours.  One was a 19-13 game, the other went 12 innings. Their median game time was just a touch over two hours.  They played an 8-2 game that went 10 innings that lasted 1:39.  There are Sox-Yanks games today where the 6th inning lasts 1:39.

[osfan83]

31 minutes ago, OrioleLochRaven said:

I haven't seen this mentioned...why don't they edit the televised product instead of messing with the live product?

You never see someone at a game with a cold beer in their hand complaining about the length of time they have to be there enjoying a live game.

Why don't they start the televised game 20 minutes later and edit mound visits and game interruptions down so there is more continuous action. The only possible drawback is social media spoiling game/play outcomes, which may be a big drawback for some.

Great idea! And make both broadcasts available....live for those interacting with social media....and time delayed for those craving a 2:30 game!

[DrungoHazewood]

11 minutes ago, Beef Supreme said:

Before television, baseball was played at a much quicker pace. Any change to improve pace of play that fails to shorten the time between innings is a waste of effort. There is a minimum of 20 minutes that could be shaved off of every single game played. Baseball needs to creatively monetize the game during the innings if it wants to shorten the length of games while not losing advertising revenue.

I know any mention of soccer gets people here all discombobulated.  But somehow soccer produces massive revenues, multi $billion TV contracts, and the only commercial break is halftime. It could be done.

[spiritof66]

25 minutes ago, OrioleLochRaven said:

I haven't seen this mentioned...why don't they edit the televised product instead of messing with the live product?

You never see someone at a game with a cold beer in their hand complaining about the length of time they have to be there enjoying a live game.

Why don't they start the televised game 20 minutes later and edit mound visits and game interruptions down so there is more continuous action. The only possible drawback is social media spoiling game/play outcomes, which may be a big drawback for some.

TV lives off of the game interruptions -- they're opportunities for commercials (though the NYYs have shown,, by having an appliance store jingle played after each opposing team K, that you can insert adverising into the game itself).

I think you're right about  the pace not being an issue for fans in the stands. But there definitely are people who aren't in the stands because of their expectation that they'll get home too late -- especially during the school year.  And I've seen parents with kids leave a still-competitive game because the parents want to get the kids home and to bed. 

[DrungoHazewood]

15 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

And I've seen parents with kids leave a still-competitive game because the parents want to get the kids home and to bed. 

Before I had kids I considered it an abomination to leave a game before the last pitch.  Since I had kids I've probably left before the last out 40% of the time.  I left Game 1 of the 2012 ALDS in the 4th or 5th inning because I had a 4-year-old with me and there had been a 3-hour rain delay.

Because of revenue/refund/rescheduling concerns baseball just doesn't care how many people stay to the end of a game.  Heck, they openly shoot for as many season ticket holders as possible knowing that at any one game (see: Thursday/April/Rays) half the season ticket holders are probably not there.  This attitude bleeds over into 3:45 games.