SB Nation Reacts: Fans weigh in on MLB’s 2023 rule changes

Major League Baseball made several significant rule changes for this year.

Recently, fans who signed up for SB Nation Reacts surveys were asked about two of them, probably the two most significant ones.

First, about the pitch clock (officially termed the “pitch timer” by MLB):

Personally, I absolutely love the shorter games. Not only are they shorter in absolute length — averaging about 25 minutes less than last year — but the pace is better, there are more balls in play and more action on the basepaths.

Speaking of that action:

More balls are in play with the shift restriction, and also as a result there are more stolen bases, which I think everyone likes. The larger bases also contribute to that.

There’s one rule change that began during the 2020 pandemic season that was made permanent this year that the overwhelming majority of fans surveyed don’t like:

That’s what MLB plans to do anyway — this rule is not used in the postseason.

It’s not clear from this survey result whether the majority of fans like the Manfred Man in general, so I’m going to ask you here. Personally, I don’t like the placed runner rule at all. To me, it makes the game so different that it’s not recognizable in extra innings. I could live with a compromise that would have “normal” baseball played through the 12th inning, then use it in the 13th or later. Longterm, only 1.5 percent of games pre-2020 lasted 13 innings or longer, about one per team per year. That would seem like a good compromise to me.

What do you think?