Blue Jays pitcher Thomas Hatch had a first-hand look at some of baseball’s rule changes when he was in the minor leagues last season.
By far the biggest difference for the right-hander was pace of play.
“Our games would start at 7 p.m. and we’d be out by 9:30 just about every night,” he said Wednesday. “Three-hour games would seem like an eternity. It took a little bit to get used to that but it was a good thing.”
Several rules implemented at lower levels in recent years will be used in the big leagues this season. Shift restrictions will be in place, pitch clocks will be used, bases will be larger and there will be pickoff attempt limits.
Major League Baseball is hoping for a quicker, safer, more exciting product by making what it calls the most significant rule alterations in decades.
“I think overall it’s going to be good for the game and good for the fans,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
MLB executives were on site at TD Ballpark on Wednesday afternoon to deliver a slideshow to media members and provide on-field demonstrations. The pitch timer is considered to be the biggest change.
Batters and pitchers will have to get ready quicker. If they’re not on time, they could be charged with an automatic ball or strike.
In addition, infielders can no longer load up on one side of the diamond or move into the shallow outfield. At least two infielders must be completely on either side of second base or risk the penalty of an automatic ball.
“I love it,” said Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. “I think that there were shifts for a good reason obviously with numbers and knowing a little bit more about players’ tendencies and stuff like that.
“But I don’t really know if the game was meant to be played that way.”
The new bases will be 18 inches (45.7 centimetres) on each side, up three inches from before. Injury prevention by minimizing player contact is one potential benefit and more aggressive base-running is another.
“I was planning to be more aggressive anyway but obviously I guess it’s going to be easier with those rules and pickoff [limits] and all that,” Bichette said. “So that’ll be something that we have to learn and see what we can take advantage of there.”
The changes will be in effect for the start of Grapefruit and Cactus League play this month. The Blue Jays open their preseason schedule on Feb. 25 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Expect an adjustment period as umpires, timers, pitchers, hitters, managers and coaches adapt to the implementation.
“Guys get used to a certain cadence of their game and their routine,” Schneider said. “That’s going to be a little bit different. So we’ve built in some constraints for spring.”
The Blue Jays’ big-league staff also had regular off-season interactions with the club’s minor-league coaches and players to discuss the nuances of the rules and adjustments that were required.
There have also been discussions on what to expect from opposing teams across MLB since some teams have different styles than others.
There will be strategy in play on timing routines, leadoff styles and false breaks. To get around shift restrictions, some clubs may bring an outfielder closer to the infield.
“New is different and it’s going to take a little bit of time,” Schneider said.
Infielder Addison Barger, a sixth-round Blue Jays’ draft pick in 2018, has seen it all after playing Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A last season.
“It’s definitely more hurried but it does makes a pretty big difference with pace of play,” he said. “The pitch clock gets annoying but it’s part of it.
“It moves the game along. You get used to it after a couple [at-bats]. It’s fine.”
Hatch said it took him about a month to get used to the timer.
“I think it takes a little bit of the thinking aspect out of it, which can be good and can be bad for some people,” he said. “I think some people are more methodically thinking while they’re pitching.
“I think some people are just more physical and just like to go out and throw the ball.”
There will be 30 seconds between batters and two minutes 15 seconds between innings. When runners are on base, pitchers will have 20 seconds to deliver their pitch and just 15 seconds when the bases are empty.
“When you implement anything new, there’s some adjustment and some getting used to it and maybe some complaining here and there,” Hatch said.
“But I think once everybody acclimates to it, it’ll be a good thing.”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
