At the beginning of the regular season, I examined how the new rule changes would potentially impact the game as MLB established new measures to speed up the game while also increasing scoring. Some of the major changes I looked at were the pitch clock and pitcher disengagements as well as the bigger bases and the partial ban of the infield shift.
Now 90 games into the 2023 season, it’s time to look at how those rules have affected the game and compare those results with other first-half seasons in terms of runs, balls in play, and stolen bases.
It’s essential to look at the time from late March to the middle of July as not counting for all of July and August would be taking the best hitting months, in terms of weather, out of the analysis.
