Some significant changes in the rules are coming to the MLB beginning in the 2019 season.
Starting this year, teams will be unable to make post-trade deadline deals, and the time between innings will be shorter.
Both of these changes, implemented by commissioner Rob Manfred, have been made with the intention of improving baseball.
Currently, teams are able to place players that they want to trade on waivers after the July 31 deadline. This will change, however.
With the new rules, if a team is to trade a player, the deal must be done by July 31. This will force teams to make deals earlier and cut out the one month post-deadline period that they once had.
In addition, with the goal of speeding up games and keeping baseball relevant for younger audiences, the time between innings will be reduced.
This is part of Manfred’s “pace of play” initiative, in which he attempts to speed up the game.
Now, teams will only have two minutes to change sides after the end of an inning. Previously, teams were able to spend up to two and a half minutes changing before resuming play.
These changes are significant alterations to the previously-known structure of MLB, and fans will be able to decide if Manfred got them right or not as the 2019 season begins later this month.
