Major League Baseball has agreed to increase the size of each base
While Major League Baseball is reportedly making progress on a new CBA. Will we actually get a solution? I sure don’t know and it doesn’t seem like baseball has any idea either as they continue to throw meaningless deadlines around trying to reach a new agreement. However, we do have a few updates in place for the season, whenever they may be.
Major League Baseball has agreed to increase the size of the bases.
The MLBPA proposed this idea to owners on Sunday, along with banning the shift and installing a pitch clock. From reports, all three proposals have been approved and will be implemented in the 2022 season.
It doesn’t seem like the size of bases has anything to do with the game…but it does. In the past, there have been many cases of injuries on the base paths, whether it’s twisted ankles, or players’ hands getting stepped on while sliding. The league believes that increasing the size of the base will prevent many injuries across the game of baseball.
Players tend to over-slide the base in today’s game. The MLB believes that bigger bases will solve that issue as well. With the current bases, a player diving in and skimming the corner is bound to slide right past the base, with the momentum they gain on the bases.
Although this change is new to Major League Baseball, it’s not new to baseball itself. The idea was originally mentioned before the 2021 season and was tested out in Triple-A. It’s made the transition for minor league players difficult, going up to the majors and seeing a base significantly smaller, even though it seems like nothing to us.
Three square inches is a big difference if you’re running the base paths. The original base in Major League Baseball was 15 inches square, but will now increase to 18 inches square in 2022. The size of the base will not decrease the length of the base path. The base-to-base length will remain at 90 feet, but bigger bases will give players a bigger target to hit, especially when a player’s foot is holding the base on defense.
With the bases already being 18 inches square down in Triple-A, this rule was bound to hit the Major Leagues eventually. Now that it is implemented, the goal is to prevent injuries, provide a bigger target, and make the transition from minors to majors seamless.
Today’s a big day for Major League Baseball. If momentum continues from yesterday, it seems we could have a deal done by tonight.
Mandatory Credit: Courier Post
The writer is incorrect, the base is not increasing by only 3 square inches but 99 square inches. This is much bigger(44%) bigger than the old base. It should have been stated the old base was a 15” square and the new base is an 18” square. Anyway the base is much bigger in area but only 3” in length. However, baseball is a game of inches and a decrease of 6” on the base paths is significant for a base stealer. I like the move,
“The size of the base will not decrease the length of the base path. ”
Someone doesn’t understand basic geometry.
Major League baseball is a sport that values tradition more than most, and changing the size of bases is not a good thing. I think the changes in the size of bases has more to do with helping teams score more runs than to protect players! How many players get there hands stepped on in a season? C’mon MLB, stop screwing with the game, after all your bid to shorten games did not work to well, why don’t you leave the game alone!