Will the pitch clock actually speed the game up in the MLB?

MLB is implementing a pitch clock for the 2023 season and beyond. After years of deliberation and testing at various levels, commissioner Rob Manfred has decided to move forward with the change.

Baseball is notoriously slow-paced and can be "boring" for those less interested in the game. In an effort to grow the fanbase, Manfred wants to see the pace of play increase.

A pitch timer in action

As a result, pitchers and batters are now on a timer and must adhere to it. If not, penalties will be applied. The question is: will this make a difference?

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Will MLB's pitch clock actually help?

In all likelihood, the new pitch clock MLB has been working with will speed up games. Even if a pitcher takes 30 seconds between pitches and is now forced to do it in 20 or 15, that cuts the dead time in half in theory.

If there are 250 pitches thrown in a game and 15 seconds are shaved off of each one, that adds up to quite a few seconds, which makes a major difference.

Naturally, other things will slow the game down. Replays take time. Injuries occur. Delays due to animals on the field or something else will happen. Time spent warming up in between innings is still a factor.

Nevertheless, if MLB can cut a baseball game down from three hours or longer to two and a half hours or even two hours and 45 minutes, that's a huge win.

Pitch clocks will be an adjustment for pitchers, but eventually, they'll get used to it and the games will likely go by at a much more rapid pace.

The new clock isn't the only thing designed to improve the pace of play, though. Pitchers can only make a pick-off attempt twice in an at-bat. If they throw a third time, it has to be an out or else it's a balk.

This will prevent them from throwing over endlessly while they wait for a relief pitcher to get warm or to just annoy the base runner and the fans.

With pitch clocks and a limit on pick-offs, baseball games might suddenly be pretty fast-paced.