It’s hard to think that after a whirlwind spring training season, the 2023 MLB regular season has already begun. Following the end of spring training, new changes to the game have been brought about by the commissioner of the MLB, Robert D. Manfred. However, these rules have proven to either be totally accepted, or completely shut down.

These new requirements have proven the most significant since the adoption of the designated hitter. The MLB has established four main rules:

1. The banning of the shift
2. Pitching clock
3. Larger bases 
4. Ghost runners during extra innings

The pitching clock is the issue that seems to be hitting people the hardest. Many years prior to this approaching season, spectators have complained that the game of baseball is simply too long, and in my opinion nothing can be further from the truth. 

Although, I do also think these accusations were what swayed the opinion of Manfred, in the beginning. I don’t necessarily think that people’s problem with baseball is that it’s too long, but rather they don’t understand the game in its entirety. People come to the game expecting something simple like hitting a ball with a bat, but baseball is much more in depth than that, which is what makes it so fun to watch.

“Baseball is supposed to be a long game. People nowadays are so impatient, and expect everything to happen so fast, that they don’t take time to really experience the game and learn what’s going on. You can’t go to a baseball game and expect it to be over quickly,” sophomore Lucy Ryan said.

While the rest of the world was more focused on the fact that the game might be shortened, I, personally, was most shocked that they banned the shift. Used against both right and left handed batters, the shift is when a team strategically places position players in spots on the field where a batter is most likely to hit the ball. I thought that this was a very obscene rule to begin with, and completely unfair. To be honest I’m glad that they got rid of it. In fact, many people agree or are neutral on the matter rather than coming off as completely appalled.

“For years, one of the arguments against banning the shift has held that it should be on hitters to put more effort into hitting it, where they [the outfielders] aren’t. But rather than somehow get several hundred hitters to modify their approaches, it would be easier to disallow defenses from using an unfair competitive advantage,” sports journalist Zachary D. Rymer said.

No matter if it’s the pitch clock, banning the shift, or enlarging the bases, baseball is changing. Some might say due to these changes the game might never be the same or some may think this is exactly what the MLB needed to stay relevant. Whatever your opinion may be, baseball will always remain America’s pastime.