BOSTON (WWLP) – It’s opening day across Major League Baseball and the Red Sox were back in Boston celebrating with fans, as they hosted the Baltimore Orioles Thursday afternoon.
It was a beautiful day for baseball at Fenway Park as the league debuted some major rule changes and the Red Sox try to jumpstart a bounce back year. Pace of play was on top of mind at Fenway and across the majors with the much-debated pitch clock getting its first major league reps.
The timer counts down between pitches and between batters, if it expires on account of the pitcher, it’s a free ball. If it expires thanks to the hitter, a free strike. It’s all in the interest of faster innings and growing the game, but die-hard fans at Fenway are not sold.
“You’ve got professional athletes and your trying to speed their process up. It’s a max effort game. I think it’s gonna cause a lot of injuries and we’re going to see a lot of issues,” said one fan.
“I’m completely against it as well. I just think you should be able to end a batter’s at bat because of a pitch clock, because he had to step out to adjust his batting gloves,” said another fan.
“I’m excited! I think it will help grow the game more like the NFL or NBA so I’m excited,” said a fan.
“If you’re a fan of baseball, you’re going to watch baseball whether it’s two and a half hours or four hours. If you’re not a fan, I don’t think you’re going to sit there and say, ‘Hey, the game is 30 minutes quicker,’ let me be a fan.”
Regardless, most fans 22News talked to were just happy to be out at the ballpark.
