Say it ain’t so!

The average Major League Baseball game lasts three hours. That’s too long. Fans can enjoy a game without actually watching the grass grow, which is why baseball is smart to introduce rule changes to speed the pace of play.

The newest change, though, is a swing and a miss. Starting this season MLB pitchers will not have to throw four pitches to issue an intentional walk. The manager will signal his decision to the ump and off the batter will trot to first base, saving a minute or so.

“Intentional walk” is not just a great baseball phrase. (Who doesn’t enjoy an intentional walk on a summer afternoon?) The manager’s issuance of an intentional walk is a strategic decision to take the bat out of the hands of an adversary. Sometimes it’s because the hitter is too dangerous, or the pitcher might have better luck against the next batter, or the team in the field wants to create the potential for force-outs. That calculation won’t change, but now the pitcher and catcher don’t have to go through the actual throw-and-catch.

Almost always, the intentional walk goes off without a hitch. But every once in a while the exchange goes awry, because players are fallible and weird stuff happens in baseball, as in life.

Now baseball asserts that not all details are important and some routine tasks can be skipped if everyone agrees in advance. Say it ain’t so!

If Major League Baseball wants to shorten games, there are many fan-friendly ways to do that. Umps can enforce the strike zone and limit visits to the mound. Pitchers can speed the time between deliveries and batters can stop futzing with their Velcro batting glove straps. Some time-saving changes require agreement with the players union; others can come via MLB fiat or persuasion. But messing with this essence of the game is wrong. We cry foul.