Major League Baseball has been a popular sport for many years, but it has gotten some criticism in recent history.
One of the biggest knocks on baseball for a while was the time it would take to complete a game.
Games were averaging longer than ever before, and Major League Baseball needed to do something about it as they were losing popularity and viewership.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, stats show how adding the pitch clock has changed the game.
The final stats are in, revealing how the pitch clock has dramatically changed the game:
3,617 stolen bases: The most since 1915.
2:36: The quickest average time of nine-inning games since 1984.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 1, 2024
Stats for the 2024 regular season show the most stolen bases since 1915 with 3,617 and the fastest average length of game since 1984 with 2 hours and 36 minutes.
The faster games appear to be appealing to fans of the game as they are not taking 3-4 hours regularly anymore.
Some other rule changes along with the pitch clock also affected the increase in stolen base numbers.
A pitcher is only allowed to disengage from the batter 3 times, with the third time forcing them to pick off a runner, or else it ends up being a balk.
Finally, the overall size of the bases is bigger, which has slightly decreased the distance that a runner needs to cover to steal a base.
If you put all three of these changes together, that adds up to teams being more aggressive on the base paths and ultimately stealing way more bases than any year in recent history.
Baseball has taken note of its flaws in the eyes of fans and has implemented these new rules to increase the action in each game played over its extensive 162-game season.
NEXT: Wild Stat Shows Postseason Experience Between Tigers, Astros