Major League Baseball has decided to shake up the snow globe once again.
Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported on Thursday that MLB has instituted two new rule changes for the 2025 season. The first rule change is a stiffer penalty for fielders who violate the infield shift rule. Over the last couple of seasons, some teams had attempted to get around MLB’s ban on the infield shift, implemented before the 2023 season and requiring two infielders to be on each side of second base, by positioning a fielder (usually a shortstop) too close to the second-base bag. Now if that happens going forward and if the offending player is the first one to touch the ball in play, the batter will be granted first base and any runners on will also be allowed to move up a base (with the fielder being charged with an error as well).
Meanwhile, the second rule change is giving replay officials greater ability to check whether a runner arriving at second or third base overran the bag. In the past, a runner who (for example) was initially called out at second base would automatically be awarded the base if replay review determined that he had actually beat the throw. But now, replay officials will also be able to consider possible “abandonment” of the bag in determining a safe or out call. Thus, a runner who originally beat a throw can still subsequently be called out upon replay review if it is determined that he overran the bag after doing so.
Drellich notes that the two rule changes passed Tuesday via unanimous vote by MLB’s 11-person competition committee (which consists of six league appointees, four players’ side appointees, and one umpires’ side appointee). You can read Drellich’s full report on the rule changes here.
Under commissioner Rob Manfred, who assumed office in 2015, Major League Baseball has undergone several drastic rule changes, including the implementation of a pitch clock as well as the addition of a “ghost runner” in extra innings. Manfred has also toyed around with the thought of even more extreme changes, but it looks like the two fairly minor ones approved by the competition committee will be the only ones coming for the 2025 season.
