Recently Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Player’s Association agreed to several MLB rule changes for 2019 and 2020.
It seems like bad timing to make MLB rule changes two weeks before a season is set to start.
But the best part of this is the two sides are cooperating, which is great for the upcoming collective bargaining agreement in 2021.
The two sides have been at each other’s throats over … what else … how they divide up our money.
As hard of an argument as that is to understand for fans who typically make far less, as fans, we just want to watch our beloved game.
And this agreement on the MLB rule changes should help negotiations go smoother in 2021.
In this article I am going to focus on the rule changes for the 2019 season as — like I said — we are less than two weeks from Opening Day!
One no-brainer was to limit the inning breaks from two minutes and five seconds to two minutes for local games. And from two minutes and twenty-five seconds on national broadcasts to two minutes.
Honestly, this could be reduced even further in my opinion, and there is already an option for the commissioner’s office to do so for 2020.
Another one that I really love is a single trade deadline. I think teams have drug their feet leading up to the July 31 deadline knowing they can still improve their team in August.
This will force teams on the fence to make a decision sooner, and it will force teams who want to go for it to make trades sooner.
The trade deadline is always one of the more exciting weeks in the season, and I think this rule to eliminate the waiver trade period will make it even better.
Mound visits are being reduced from six to five per game. This is another no-brainer that I think could go as low as four.
And there are several MLB rule changes to the payout structure for players in the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby to help incentivize the players.
But what’s most important for the fans is the way All-Star voting will work.
There will now be a primary round that will limit the pool to the top three at each position — top six for outfielders.
More from Tomahawk Take
- Atlanta Braves 2012 Prospect Review: Joey Terdoslavich
- Braves News: Braves sign Fuentes, Andruw’s HOF candidacy, more
- The Weakest Braves Homers Since 2015
- Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
- Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves
And then in late June or early July there will be an “Election Day” for fans to vote on the finalist over a certain time period to choose who starts in the All-Star Game.
I think this is absolutely brilliant in today’s game as social media will be abuzz over the voting. I can’t wait to see the marketing campaigns for each team’s Twitter account.
Major League Baseball still has the best All-Star experience of any sport, and these rules will make it even better.
They also created a rule that if the All-Star Game goes to extra innings then each team will start with a runner on second in every inning after the ninth. This is fine with me.
You can go here for more information on MLB rule changes not only for 2019, but for 2020 as well.
I absolutely love all of these changes and think they will make our great game even better. But above all that, it gives us hope of growth for the future of baseball.