Baseball was largely unchanged for more than a century — now MLB is trying to shake things up

Baseball is looking a little different every year as technological innovations, society's shrinking attention span and big money marketing concerns creep into MLB.

America's pastime is looking a little different every year as technological innovations, society's shrinking attention span and big-money marketing concerns creep into Major League Baseball.

The sport, which had been virtually untouched from the turn of the 20th century, has seen a flurry of rule changes in just the past decade and a half. And there's a strong possibility that the most significant alteration in the game's history is just 12 months away from taking root.

Baseball diehards at Grapefruit and Cactus League games this month have seen live-action previews of the automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system, which could very well be implemented in real MLB games next year.

The video board displays the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system during a challenge by the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 11.Christian Petersen / Getty ImagesThe potential ball-strike earthquake comes in the wake of several other major MLB rule changes. They include prescribing where defenders could position themselves to encourage more balls in play (2023), introducing rules dramatically helping base stealers (2023), awarding teams free base runners to prevent long extra-inning games (2020) and giving National League teams the designated hitter so woeful hitting pitchers don't need to embarrass themselves at the plate anymore (2022).

MLB officials have had low-level talks about a "Golden At-Bat," which could permit a star slugger to hit out of order once a game in a high-leverage situation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/baseball/mlb-baseball-rule-changes-rcna194896

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