The Biggest Storyline Of 2023 Will Be?

Image credit: (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

This is one of eight burning questions comprising Baseball America’s 2023 MLB Season Preview. To see the full preview, click here. 

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Josh Norris—The pitch clock. All of the rules changes, really, but mostly the pitch clock. 

Matt Eddy—We could be entering a new era of pitching dominance. The 2022 season brought humidors to all 30 parks and less-lively baseballs to the field of play. Now in 2023, the more balanced schedule will introduce a wider variety of batter-pitcher matchups, and greater matchup novelty will tend to favor pitchers. Additionally, pitchers may find that the pitch clock helps them control the tempos—and potentially outcomes—of at-bats. 

Carlos Collazo—We could be entering a new era of action. The pitch clock will cut out a lot of the dead time that has become pervasive in the last decade thanks to a game that rewards max-effort pitches and max-effort swings. Forcing tempo will hopefully create more balls in play and larger bags will breathe new life into the running game. 

Ben Badler—Usually I will say it’s something that we’re not considering right now. This game is full of surprises, and the fact that something isn’t getting a lot of attention before the season is typically what makes it a bigger story by the end of the year. However, the pitch clock is such a dramatic change to the way the game is played and to the viewing experience that it has to be the biggest talking point, at least at the beginning of the season. 

Kyle Glaser—The rules changes, which will fundamentally change the game for the better. Shorter game times, better pace, more hits and more stolen bases all resulted from the rules changes in the minor leagues, and the same will occur in the major leagues.