When we reported the rules changes approved for 2023 yesterday, we got one aspect wrong. But it wasn’t really a mistake, at least not one you could blame us for.
One of the four main rules changes, “rubber disengagement,” contains a restriction on the battery (and a boon to baserunners) that seemed too unbelievable to be true: Pitchers may only make two pickoff attempts per at-bat.
If this is the rule, and as Friday went on it sunk it as truth, it effectively means just one pickoff attempt, because pitchers will have to “save” their second in case the runner just starts walking to second base.