3 points in the article jump out:
1) not only in post-season, but in regular season too hitters step out of the box much more now than they did even in the mid-90s, and each time they step out, it averages about 12.5 seconds. Do it a 190 times, as mentioned in the article, it racks up.
2) Fouls are exploding. In recent years, the number of fouls have exceeded balls in play for the first time since records started being kept in 1988.
3) Numbers of pitchers being used. Relievers work slower than starters, and each pitching change adds time for the mound visit, etc... Ths is true despite the 3 batter minimum. Each additional pitcher tacks on about 10 minutes a game.
Regular season games averaged 3:11 this year, a record.
1) Stepping out of the box was prescribed as part of the hitting approach routine of attempts to reset the brain after each pitch; the more seconds they can get for that, the better
2) Another hitting approach in the era of the fireballer, though that seems a legitimate part of gamesmanship rather than the between-pitch bids for time of stepping out and adjusting gloves. Making the batter have to step back in quickly after a foul often doesn’t seem to be that much of a priority, so they could tweak that at least.
3) Legit gamesmanship from the manager’s side. Not surprised that the ridiculous three batter rule change didn’t reportedly have that big of an impact. As was discussed at the time, giving the manager a set time for the pitcher to come in and be ready would seem to be the way to go.
If that means they’ve got to get in the lion’s share of warm-up pitches through the bullpen and then either have the bullpen cart turbo-charged or have the pitchers due to come in and warm up in fair ground as they do in spring training, so be it.
