Major League Officials Have Decided The World Series Will See Its First Pitch Clock

Major League Baseball officials decided today to stick to an interseason pitching clock in the postseason and adopt a timer rule for the first time in the World Series, despite fans' concerns about the pivotal moment.

Major League Baseball's Executive Council is meeting today in New York. The meeting decided that the postseason and championship games, which will be played in October, will use the pitching time rule of "15 seconds with no one on base and 20 seconds with no one on base."

Major League baseball adopted the "Pitch Clock" rule this season, and it has been effective.

For the past seven years, the average length of a nine-inning game in the major leagues has exceeded three hours. Last year, it was three hours and three minutes, and this season, it has dropped to two hours and 39 minutes. That's the shortest average game in the major leagues since 1985.

In the past, baseball was characterized by an unlimited time limit. Now, with the goal of speeding up the pace of the game in the major leagues, a timer is installed in every ballpark, and whenever the pitcher or hitter exceeds the specified time, the chief executive directly calls a good or a bad pitch.

In addition to the pitch clock, the open use of "electronic signal transmitter" (PitchCom) between throws and catches is also a big change to speed up the pace. The catcher no longer has to compare the code with his finger, but instead presses a button with his finger like in a video game, and the code is transmitted to a hidden earpiece in the pitcher's hat to play the voice.

MLS believes that the increase in attendance this season is related to the accelerated pace of the game. But some players and fans have voiced different voices, arguing that in terms of the importance of the playoffs and championship games, every game and every pitch is crucial, and it is possible to consider eliminating or extending the time of the pitch clock.

The most common question raised by fans is "the World Series goes to Game 7 and the result is affected by a pitch clock violation." American media reported that some players called for the postseason to relax the pitching time, so that players in high-pressure situations, a few more seconds of breathing space.

The decision by the league's executive meeting shows that MLB is willing to take the risk of "pitch clock violations at critical times" in the postseason. After nearly a full season of MLS enforcement, although there were frequent violations at the beginning of the season, by the end of the season, violations had become rare, about once every four games. About two-thirds of major League games this season have no violations