We knew this was going to happen eventually with the pitch clock. I mean, maybe not on the first full day of games, but sometime. AND I WOULD ARGUE that it’s much better to happen today than, say, a month from now when the games count.
It’s the thing everyone dreaded: a game between the Red Sox and Braves just ended on an auto-strike because the batter wasn’t ready in time.
Insult to injury? It was a tie game with the bases loaded:
Nobody could believe it. It looked like the batter, Cal Conley, though he’d just WALKED to win the game on an auto-ball, but it was actually a strike called on him.
It was close, but as you can see, the clock actually got down to about 6 seconds before Conley was ready and looking at the pitcher. That is, with apologies, a violation of the rule:
Yes, that’s ugly. Nobody wants to see a game actually end like this (or, if this were an MLB regular season game, go to extra innings like that). But there are kinks to be worked out, and players to get accustomed to what they are supposed to be doing. It’ll be OK. But, uh, yeah, that’s bad. On Day One.