After a lasting four-month-long wait, baseball is finally here. However, the return of MLB isn’t the same as before. The 2023 MLB season arrives with multiple edits in the way the sport is played, with the most significant addition to Major League Baseball being the pitch clock, brought in to reduce the duration of the game. And the San Diego Padres’ star Manny Machado instantly made his way to the pitch clock record books, after being late to the box.
Machado was docked a strike after reaching the box and not playing with his left foot inside the box before the clock ran out. Being delayed to face Mariners lefty Robbie Ray, the six-time All-Star’s at-bat began with home plate umpire Ryan Blakney screaming “0-1.”
Manny Machado is making it to the record books. But is it for the right reasons?
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The pitch clock, placed right behind the home plate, is introduced into the game to assist the quick completion of the game. As reported by ESPN, last season’s opener between the Mariners and Padres lasted 59 minutes longer. Hence, the results of the pitch clock are visible already.
Now that we got our first look at the pitch clock, we see our first clock infraction
Manny Machado started off his at-bat, 0-1 because he took too long to get into the box pic.twitter.com/pUcAdyZAkx
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) February 24, 2023
Machado, while talking about the blunder, said that his name will now be in the record books, along with mentioning how they need to start getting used to this change. He said, “I’m going to be in the record books. That time came by quick. It’s definitely something we’re going to have to get used to. It kind of takes away your routine, being up there and zoning in before the pitch. The umpire gave me a little warning — ‘Hey, you got 2 seconds’ — but I was already late when I got in there.”
While some fans criticized Manny Machado for his absent awareness in the game and how that could affect his potential free agency after 2023, others brought up the possible flaws of this new rule in the sport.
This is how fans reacted:
In a perfect world, more people will enjoy baseball because of the pitch clock speeding up the game. Players will adjust. I don’t prefer it, but I want the game to grow
— Dustin Gamblin (@da_gamblin) February 24, 2023
Howie! You follow talking baseball? This is a very pleasant suprise.
— Jack Swerdloff (@jack_swerdloff) February 25, 2023
This is awful for baseball.
— Justin Wallis (@JWillisWallis) February 24, 2023
In the minors, the number of violations halved every week or two, I think they'll get used to it pretty quick but this spring training will be a lot of habit breaking lol
— Breakfast (@Breakfast905) February 24, 2023
Rule violating thug 😹😹😹
— annoying dodger fan (@dodgersbetter) February 24, 2023
If they implicate this, but still let the ump call strikes…. I have no fucking words left for society.
All the ump can do is get the call wrong, winning 0.00000000069sec of the pitch the tv & computer have informed us of the right call.
Lol there’s no way.
— TKB.eth ⛺️❓ (@TKBushleaguer) February 25, 2023
That’s not gonna help extension talks
— Tyler Koerth (@TylerKoerth) February 24, 2023
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Oh man I can't wait for this to cost somebody a postseason series
— Gardy (@Soresublue) February 24, 2023
Notably, the Padres lost their Grapefruit League opener against the Mariners 2-3. Manny Machado, out of his two at-bats, managed two singles.
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What do you think about this new baseball rule? Will it benefit baseball in the long run? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
