Major League Baseball implemented three rules for the 2023 season that will seem pretty radical to a good number of fans. One that might not even have been noticed from afar would be the bases. Yes, the physical bases. They are now bigger. First, second and third base have been, for well over a century, 15 square inches.
The new bases are 18 square inches.
Measurements from both home plate to first base and third base to home plate are three inches closer than under the old base. What's more, the paths from first to second and second to third are now 4 1/2 inches shorter than previously.
Much of the focus on the reason for the larger bases will be on the action aspect. That is, with shorter distance between the bases, it's possible we'll see more things like infield hits, stolen bases, stolen base attempts, runners attempting to take an extra base (moving from first to third on a single and trying to score from first on a double) and maybe even more acrobatic double-play turns at second by the defense.
There's also a safety component. Given that players are much bigger now than a century ago, their feet are also bigger and so there was less of the base available to them. This can cause collisions and would even make awkward steps that cause ankle sprains or other injuries more common than necessary. Giving them a little more base to work with helps there.
We will, of course, notice it most with more stolen bases. From 1976-97, every single season averaged at least 0.7 stolen bases per team per game. The high was 0.85 in 1987. The league average hasn't topped 0.57 since 2012's 0.66. From 2019-21, it was below 0.5, bottoming out at 0.46 in 2021. Last year it rose to 0.51.
One of the overarching goals with the new rules by the league is to make things more exciting. Stolen bases are exciting and if the bigger bases can get the successful steals back up, that's a decent amount of extra fun.
