The Boston Red Sox and all other Major League Baseball teams will see bigger bases when the 2023 season begins.
The new rule -- which is just one change that will be implemented this year -- is hopeful to improve the safety of the players. We already know how ex-Red Sox and now-Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Rich Hill felt about the bases.
The Red Sox got their first look at them this week as they started to report to Fort Myers, Fla. for spring training. Manager Alex Cora met with the media Tuesday morning and had a great comparison for the new bases.
"Wait till you see them," Cora told reporters, per MassLive's Christopher Smith. "They look like a pizza box to be honest. I mean, I get it. Four inches, that's huge. I think there was a play toward the end of the World Series that it was a bang-bang play at second. He got called out. Probably with the new bases, he's safe. So that's gonna be a changer. But talking to the minor league coaches and everybody that used the rules last year, it's not that all of a sudden we're gonna steal 100 bags with a guy. The value of the outs is still in play, and you get 27. So you've gotta be smart. You've gotta be efficient."
The new bases will be around for spring training and will be used during Boston's games in order to give everyone a chance to get acclimated with them. The only wrench for some players is that the World Baseball Classic will not adopt MLB's rules for the tournament, so it may be longer of an adjustment to the 12 Red Sox players slated to represent their home countries.
The Red Sox begin full team workouts this week as they prepare for a 2023 season that still has a lot of questions left to be answered.
