Last season, the average nine-inning Major League Baseball game lasted three hours and three minutes. The average nine-inning Tigers game this season has lasted significantly less: two hours and 24 minutes.
"Early review of the rules is, incredible. I love them," A.J. Hinch said on 97.1 The Ticket. "I think it's one of the best things that's happened to baseball to tweak it, make it a little bit more exciting, make it a little bit faster."
The biggest change, of course, is the pitch clock, which Tigers fans saw for the first time at Comerica Park during Thursday's home opener -- a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox that started at 1:13 and ended at 3:45. Imagine that: a tidy and entertaining two-and-a-half hour affair.
To increase action on the base paths, MLB has also banned the infield shift, limited the number of pick-off attempts per at-bat and widened the actual bases. There were more than double the number of stolen bases through the first week of games this season than last season.
And while the pitch clock has claimed a few unfortunate victims (and will claim a few more) -- Shohei Ohtani was penalized as both a pitcher and a hitter in the same game Wednesday -- Hinch says "we had six weeks to get used to it" in spring training.
Pitchers and hitters are now subject to a 15-second timer between pitches with the bases empty and a 20-second timer with a runner on base. Violations result in a ball against the pitcher or a strike against the hitter.
"It's a little tough whenever you see some at-bats change or you see some guys get called out, and hopefully that doesn't happen to us," said Hinch. "But all in all, if you say take the good and you have to take some of the bad, I'll take some of these changes as super exciting for fans and for players.
"I love the fact that the action's started on the bases. We've gotta get a little more athletic to take advantage of the base-stealing component, but count me as a believer in this being good for the game."
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