ACCORDING TO PLAN

Two months into the season, rules changes were working exactly as MLB hoped

- KYLE GLASER

Through the first two months of the season, Major League Baseball's rules changes worked exactly as hoped.

Game times were down, stolen bases were up, batting average had increased and violations were limited. While players and managers have expressed mixed feelings about the rules changes, from the league's perspective, everything is going brilliantly.

"I think the thing that's been surprising for us is how gracefully the players and umpires have adjusted to habits that have been formed over decades in a matter of weeks," MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword said.

"They're playing a brand of baseball that looks the way baseball looked 40 years ago. And it's amazing to watch." The rules changes-most notably the pitch clock, shift restrictions and pickoff limitations-were tested extensively throughout the minor leagues the last two years. Through the early part of this season, they had more or less transitioned seamlessly to the majors.

First and foremost is the pitch clock.

The average game time was 2 hours, 37 minutes through the end of May. That's 29 minutes shorter than the 3:06 average game time in 2022.

That figure is in line with the 26 minutes that were shaved off of the average game time when the pitch clock was implemented at all full-season levels of the minors in 2022.