For decades, baseball has been that most defiantly pastoral of modern sports, a game set outside the constraints of time, unbound by the seconds, minutes and hours ticking by.
This season, Major League Baseball is on the clock — and so are the Washington Nationals, if you believe the buzz surrounding the capital’s perpetual postseason underachievers.
Nationals ace Max Scherzer takes the mound Friday against the host Cincinnati Reds to open a season that has a “World Series or bust” feel to it, thanks in part to the team’s owners. And this make-or-break year for the Nationals comes as MLB itself has instituted several new rules aimed at speeding up its tradition-laced game.
The rules changes come after the average duration of a game jumped to three hours, five minutes last season, the latest in a decades-long, minute-by-minute climb from games that lasted 2 hours or less in the 1940s.
Among players and coaches, the most talked about change is the limit of six trips to the pitcher’s mound by team personnel during a nine-inning game. Teams are allowed one visit for each extra inning played.
“I think they want to move the game along and that is a good thing,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor, a Hall of Fame player with Milwaukee, Toronto and Minnesota. “I think our players have adjusted to it fairly well. I think we are comfortable with the new format.”
Also on the clock, after years of relative labor peace between the owners and players, is the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that expires in December 2021. That cozy relationship has been threatened this spring, with player’s union head and former major leaguer Tony Clark speaking out against owners whom he felt created a less than ideal free agent situation this winter.
Ace pitcher Jake Arrieta didn’t sign as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies until two weeks ago. Closer Greg Holland signed with the Cardinals on Thursday. And as of earlier this week, Jose Bautista and John Lackey still didn’t have employers.
For the Nationals, who have won the past two National League East titles but can’t seem to get past the first round of the playoffs, there’s a belief — among some — that this year may be the team’s best shot.
Dave Martinez is the new rookie skipper — Friday in Cincinnati will be his first as a major league manager — and the New York native inherits a team loaded with stars who could be gone after this season.
Among those eligible for free agency at the end of the season are former MVP and All-Star right fielder Bryce Harper; second baseman Daniel Murphy, who will begin the season on the disabled list after October knee surgery; and starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez, who has the most wins of any lefty in club history.
On top of that, general manager Mike Rizzo, who built the Nationals from a 100-loss club to one that is an annual contender, is in the last year of his contract under the Lerner family ownership.
The Nationals are once again favorites in the National League East, and Sports Illustrated went as far to predict Washington will beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
Not everyone agrees that the Nationals’ window is closing: Scherzer and fellow right-hander Stephen Strasburg, two of the best pitchers in baseball, should be at the top of the rotation for years to come, after all. Outfield prospect Victor Robles will fit in nicely in right field if Harper heads elsewhere for 2019 and Wilmer Difo would be a defensive upgrade at second if Murphy doesn’t return.
But first things first: the Nationals begin a quest for a third straight division title Friday.
“You have to turn into a fan for at least a little bit. This thing happens once a year,” Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan on Wednesday about Opening Day.
One of the question marks for the Nationals is first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who has a history of injury problems and took part in just one spring training game. But he says he is healthy for Opening Day.
Adam Eaton is slated to play left field after spending most of his career in center. He tore his ACL in late April of last season and missed the rest of the year.
The Nationals play three games in Cincinnati and three games in Atlanta before the home opener Thursday against the New York Mets, perhaps the biggest challenge in the division.
“It is going to be a potent lineup,” Rizzo said. “We are ready to take on the league. The Mets are a force; we don’t take anyone for granted. It is going to be a great race. We have a bullseye on our back.”
And so, perhaps, does Major League Baseball, finally responding to complaints about the speed of a game rife with interruptions.
In addition to the new limits on trips to the mound, managers now have only 30 seconds to decide whether to make a replay challenge, and officials must make their call within two minutes — though the league has said there will be “various exceptions.”
Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor, sitting in the visiting clubhouse at Nationals Park on Tuesday evening, said six visits to the mound will be another stat in a sport filled with them.
“It will be learning about different (umpire) crews and adjusting to that,” he said after a 3-1 win over the Nationals to end spring training. “They (umpires) point to both dugouts so we can keep tallies. It is another thing to keep track of, right?”
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