More than anything, the first half of the season has been a time of much-needed transition for MLB, which was stuck in its ways and stuck in the mud as other American professional sports seemed more equipped to soar in this frenetic digital age. Thanks to the pitch clock, a bushel of young stars and a peck of unexpected contenders in success-starved cities, MLB will enter its all-star break on a promising trajectory. But for winning teams and losing teams — and a sport hoping to reestablish its hold on the hearts of fans — this season is far from over.
Here are five takeaways from the first half:
The pitch clock is working as intended (and other rule changes seem to be, too).
After years of greasing the squeaky wheels of old-school players, coaches and fans, MLB finally implemented its pitch clock. The results have been as dramatic as the reception has been positive. Through 99 days of the 2022 season, average game time was 3 hours 4 minutes. Through 99 days of the 2023 season, that number is down to 2:38, which would be the shortest average game time since 1984. The clock is not causing regular disruption, either: An average of just more than half a violation occurs each game, according to MLB statistics.
Meanwhile, bigger bases and limits on pickoff attempts are encouraging base stealing as intended. Through the first 99 days of the season, there have been nearly 1.5 stolen bases per game, the highest number in more than a decade. The success rate was 79.5 percent in that span, which would be the highest season average in at least a quarter century.
Grumbling was inevitable, and veteran pitchers have provided most of it. MLB officials have had to tweak enforcement policies and emphasis in response to players trying to work around the rules. But consensus among players and managers is that the clock is a good thing, with fans seeming to agree. And whether because of the pitch clock or for other reasons entirely, average attendance is at its highest level since before the pandemic.
The cord-cutting reckoning has begun — and MLB might just be ready for it.
As cable subscriptions plummeted in recent years, MLB began preparing for a future without the billion-dollar cable deals that spurred massive financial growth over the past quarter century. Those plans accelerated when Sinclair Broadcasting Company made clear that the subsidiary it formed to buy and utilize broadcast rights to 14 MLB teams was hurtling toward bankruptcy. So MLB created a local media division and prepared to broadcast games itself, which it began doing with a day or so of notice in late May when Sinclair did not make its payments to the San Diego Padres.
MLB has been handling Padres broadcasts ever since and began offering a direct-to-consumer streaming option in the San Diego market that allows fans to buy the rights to watch Padres games on MLB.tv — something long coveted by fans but long rendered impossible by the blackouts that local cable deals required. Commissioner Rob Manfred has made clear many times over the past year that he would like to see MLB offer similar in-market options wherever local cable deals allow, and the first dominoes have begun to fall.
Money can’t (always) buy baseball happiness.
If the season ended at the all-star break, the team with the largest payroll in baseball, the New York Mets, would not qualify for the playoffs. Neither would the team with the third-largest payroll, the Padres. In fact, as things stand, three of the top six payrolls in MLB would miss the playoffs entirely. Only one team with the largest payroll in its division, the Texas Rangers, would win it.
Conversely, three of the teams with the six lowest payrolls are in position to make the playoffs — the Baltimore Orioles ($68.1 million per Spotrac), the Tampa Bay Rays ($76.6 million) and the Cincinnati Reds ($92.5 million). Four teams with payrolls below the major league average of $161 million are in playoff position.
Exactly what that surprising lack of correlation between spending and winning means is hard to say. The clearest conclusion to draw could be that teams with smaller payrolls and lots of young talent can compete with the big spenders. Perhaps the second half of the season will play into the hands of those who can spend to bolster their rosters, transforming the standings between now and October. But at the moment, concerns that free-spending Steve Cohen and Peter Seidler would run away from the rest of baseball purely because of their willingness to spend more than their colleagues seem to have been overblown.
If the Atlanta Braves were not World Series favorites already, they should be now.
The Braves are a juggernaut. They went 21-4 in June and own a 9½ game lead in a division that has been one of baseball’s strongest. They will send nearly their entire starting lineup to Tuesday’s All-Star Game. They hit more home runs before the break than any team in history, and their pitching staff owns the lowest ERA in the National League. Atlanta entered Saturday’s games with a run differential of plus-148 — more than double that of the next best team in the NL.
Quietly but clearly, this Atlanta group has established itself as a dynasty to rival the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers of recent years. They got one title already in 2021. And with seemingly everyone under contract for the long haul and plenty of financial and prospect capital to spend on reinforcements at the trade deadline, they look well positioned for another.
Shohei Ohtani is getting better.
With free agency awaiting this offseason, the most unprecedented player in modern baseball history is leaving little doubt that he should secure an unprecedented contract, too. Ohtani is putting together the best offensive season of an impressive hitting career, maintaining the highest average of his career (.297 entering play Saturday) and an OPS over 1.000. He leads the majors with 31 homers, slightly behind the pace needed to challenge Aaron Judge’s American League record but close enough that it probably would warrant endless attention if Ohtani wasn’t so good at everything else, too.
On the mound, he is fourth in strikeouts and third in strikeouts per nine inning, all while maintaining a 3.32 ERA. He probably will be the best starting pitcher available in free agency this offseason. He might be the best slugger available, too.