Major League Baseball has introduced a host of rule changes for 2020. In fact, no one season has experienced such a drastic number of rule changes in quite some time. There are six new rules that will affect the game in a number of ways, all with the purpose of quickening the game.
This has been Rob Manfred’s mission since he took over as commissioner—quicken the games while ramping up the excitement. The issue is that umpires haven’t been enforcing the rules already put in place to speed up the game.
For example, batters, by rule, aren’t allowed to step out of the box anymore.