Speeding up baseball could do harm

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.

Score one for efficiency, but at a cost to the way the game is played. And if you want to be philosophical about it — this is baseball, after all, metaphors for life a specialty — the loss runs deeper: An integral piece of the nation’s pastime is being reduced to an act of paperwork. A gimme. Somewhere the baseball gods stare at their scorecards in disbelief.

“Intentional walk” is not just a great baseball phrase. 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. 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.

Last year, the New York Yankees’ Gary Sanchez reached out to swing at a poorly thrown intentional ball and drove home a run against Tampa Bay. Miguel Cabrera of the Marlins did something similar in 2006. Hitters have embarrassed themselves, too, most famously when Johnny Bench struck out on a fake intentional walk pitch in the 1972 World Series.

In other words, you never know what will happen on the field — that’s why they play the game. There’s pressure involved in making those soft throws home. It’s an unnatural act for a fireballer to suddenly toss cream puffs. A pitcher should be required to expend the physical and mental energy to make those throws. A catcher should have to make sure the thrown ball doesn’t get past him and allow runners on base to advance. And the hitter should have to stand at the plate and earn the pass to first base.

The more we think about it, the more the rule change feels like a cheapening of the game’s legacy and influence. The game’s fundamentals provide lessons for any competitive situation.

Now baseball asserts that not all details are important and some routine tasks can be skipped if everyone agrees in advance. Don’t want to make the long-shot sales call or inspect a distant bridge or run one more lab test? Chances are that nothing bad will happen, so just say, “I’m signaling from the bench for an intentional walk.” That’s practically the same thing as doing the work, right? Say it ain’t so! If Major League Baseball wants to shorten games, there are many 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 batting glove straps and clomping their cleats before every pitch. But messing with this essence of the game is wrong. We cry foul.