The new normal in major leage baseball 

 The closing pitcher cocks his leg in the air, turns his body to throw the ball … but the umpire calls the play dead?

This is the new normal in major league baseball: the pitch clock. Essentially, the pitch clock is a 30-second timer to resume play before batters, designed to speed up the pace of play. The pitcher has to start their pitch delivery, or wind-up, before that clock expires. The pitcher has 15 seconds with nobody on base, and 20 seconds if a runner is on base.

Now on paper, this sounds like a good idea. Baseball is a long game, containing nine innings and three hours that can be mundane to watch if you are not a big baseball fan. But, we have already seen its problems in this year's spring training.

On Friday February 25th, in an exhibition spring training match-up between the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, the bases were loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. Unfortunately for the team batting, the Braves, they were not set and ready in the batter's box when the timer went off, resulting in strike three and the game ending in a tie.

Now, in an actual season game, the game would be sent to extra innings, which gives both teams an opportunity to win. But many fans are questioning if this pitch clock should really be in effect if it is taking away a potential walk-off scenario for a team with the bases loaded.

In my opinion, I think it is a great idea. It adds a pace to the game, which could potentially bring in more viewers, which overall helps the league. But, I think the rule should be modified for late game. In other leagues, like the NBA and NFL, timeouts are constantly taken in the fourth quarter, which can turn the last two minutes of a game into ten. With major league baseball's new pitch clock rule, it should go away in the ninth inning, and extra innings.

I mean who doesn't love a little suspense?

Opinion by Kyle Stout