MLB Discuses Potential Montreal Return And Using A Pitch Clock In 2018

Major League Baseball (MLB) has been under pressure for some time to make their games more interesting by speeding up the pace of the game. The management suggested using pitch clocks last season but the players union objected and the idea was dropped temporarily.

MBL Commissioner Rob Manfred says that the league will now proceed with the idea in 2018 with or without the support of the union. The regular season average for 9 inning games was 3 hours and 5 minutes while the post season average was 3 hours and 29 minutes.

MLB is set to introduce a 20 second pitch clock next season that will permit one trip by a catcher for each pitcher to the mound each innings and the bottom of the strike zone will be raised from beneath the kneecap to the top of the kneecap, just like it was prior to 1996.

The MLB and the players union have been in discussions regarding the proposed changed for the last few months and Dan Halem, chief legal officer for the MLB is pushing for an agreement to be signed before the end of Jan 2018.

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MLB franchise owners recently held their quarterly meeting and these proposed changes were once again discussed. If the players union continues to object to the proposal, the franchises will have the right in 2018 to implement the changes unilaterally. The MLB has also discussed the possibility of using protective netting which was brought on due to the fact that a number of fans have been injured this year due to foul balls. The MLB is yet to make a final decision on the matter.

The MLB is also considering the possibility of returning to Montreal as the former Mayor Denis Coderre was pushing hard for the MLB to make a return. However Coderre was recently defeated during re-election polls and Commissioner Manfred said that the MLB will not make a decision until Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics reach an agreement over a new ball park.

In a statement, Commissioner Manfred said

I’m not sure who’s going to be the mayor of Montreal at that point. I do know that it would be extraordinarily unlikely for baseball to return to Montreal without some concrete plan as to where a team would play. We’re not going back to playing in Olympic Stadium