MLB To Add 'Pace-Of-Play' Rules Even If Union Opposes

(AP Photo)

Major League Baseball seems to be taking the whole pace-of-play issue seriously. While management is attempting to reach an accord on some of the new rules with the players' union—those rules will happen with or without union agreement. The potential new rules for 2018 include:

• a 20-second pitch clock; 
• one catcher trip to the mound per pitcher each inning;
• raising the bottom of the strike zone from just beneath the kneecap to the top of the kneecap.

Said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, "My preferred path is a negotiated agreement with the players, but if we can't get an agreement we are going to have rule changes in 2018 one way or the other." Damn straight, Commish!