Could Baseball's Slow Pace Spark Increased In-Game Betting?

The Korea Baseball Organization will introduce the automated ball-strike system (ABS) next season, the league announced Thursday (per the Korea Times). The league will also adopt a pitch timer similar to one used by Major League Baseball. The decisions were made during a board of directors meeting earlier this week. "The ABS system has accomplished…

After a few days of discussion at this year's Global Gaming Expo, the future of legal sports betting sounded a bit like the nature of gambling itself: a lot of money wagered on uncertain outcomes. What do players want? What will lawmakers and regulators allow? What sports betting sites will be left standing a year from now? And what's the next big…

The 2023 Major League Baseball playoffs get started in less than a week. The playoffs will have a different pace this time around thanks to the postseason debut of the pitch clock. Yes, baseball's new-in-2023 pitch clock will also be a feature of the playoffs. We're here to refresh fans on the pitch clock and the other rules that will be on display…

Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred has suggested greater ties between baseball and sports betting, including deepened broadcast integrations, are potentially in the league's future. In an interview on the New York Post's The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, Manfred voiced his support for the vertical, suggesting links to…

Major League Baseball has its short-, mid- and long-term goals clear. Could they be intertwined with the explosive world of sports betting? "I see that at some point coming as an alternate digital product. You're always going to have that clean broadcast," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said on the "Marchand and Ourand Podcast" with The Post's Andrew…

A Twitter (or'X' as it is now apparently known) feud between the Action Network's Darren Rovell and Barstool's Dan "Big Cat" Katz is garnering plenty of attention. The internet is buzzing about the rift and some are even questioning who would win a fight between the pair. With our top oddsmakers on vacation, we asked their underlings to create…

SEATTLE - As the pressure ticks up, major league players would like a few extra ticks to think. The Major League Baseball Players Association would like a tweaked pitch clock as the season approaches the playoffs, union executive director Tony Clark said Tuesday, perhaps by adding a few seconds to the timer. Thus far, MLB has used a 15-second clock…

Major League Baseball has deep ties with the sports betting industry these days. But that's not changing Pete Rose's lifetime ban from the sport, according to Commissioner Rob Manfred. "I think for us, we've always approached the issue of gambling from the proposition that players and other people who are in position to influence the outcome of the…

No matter how many times he (or Cincinnati fans) may wish it, Pete Rose just won't be going into the National Baseball Hall of Fame anytime soon. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred continues to set reality for Rose and his supporters. During the March 29 episode of The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, a baseball podcast for the New York Post,…

When Giovanny Gallegos was on the mound last season, he wasn't the only one who didn't need to be in much of a hurry. The St. Louis Cardinals reliever was the slowest-working pitcher in Major League Baseball last season, taking nearly 31 seconds between pitches when at least one runner was on base. Gallegos' lack of urgency worked well for bettors…

Make no mistake, the World Baseball Classic was loads of fun. It placed great players on a global stage and let them to play for their country alongside other great players. It produced compelling competition while selling the sport to multiple continents. "This is kind of our Olympics," Team USA slugger Kyle Schwarber told reporters. "We don't get…

It's seemingly never easy and almost always feared. That's true in most walks of life. But when it comes to sports, there's no place where change is less welcome than Major League Baseball. That's because MLB's history runs far deeper than that of its contemporaries among the professional sports leagues. The first major-league baseball game was…

Baseball's all-time career hits leader turns 82 in April, and this year marks nearly three and a half decades since the late baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti placed Pete Rose on the permanently ineligible list for violating Major League Rule 21: gambling on America's pastime. While Rose finally admitted in his 2004 book - "My Prison Without…

As Major League Baseball looks toward the future, commissioner Rob Manfred has been open about his desire to eventually expand to 32 teams. While MLB needs to sort out the stadium situations with the A's and Rays before they can fully focus on adding additional franchises, a handful of markets have emerged as potential options for new teams. This…

Sports gambling, in many ways, has been a lifeboat for the sports media industry. From online to radio to TV to inside arenas and stadiums, it has been nearly impossible for fans to avoid exposure to sports betting advertisements or promotions - even for an hour or two - for a couple of years now. In this week's newsletter, we will evaluate the…

Chris Bevilacqua doesn't have to work his imagination too hard to see a future where a fellow New York Yankees fan experiences a ballgame in an entirely novel way. Perhaps he or she pulls up the game on their YES Network or DraftKings app, watches an inning or two of a low-latency stream while automated odds powered by Bevilacqua's company,…

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league "built as the season went on" with "attendance numbers in September that we haven't seen since 2014 and I think the new playoff format showed really well." Manfred sat down with MLB Network's Bob Costas for an extended interview where he addressed a wide range of topics, with Costas noting the season…

The pitch clock is coming to Major League Baseball next season, and with it a number of byproducts. Game time will decrease. Action on the field will increase. And the sport - so hope the powers that be who announced the move earlier this month, including Commissioner Rob Manfred - will be much healthier. Testing new rules in what Manfred said were…

Tonight in Unpacks: The pitch clock is coming to MLB next season, and with it a number of byproducts. SBJ's Erik Bacharach notes among the areas of the league's business strategy that will be affected by this is betting. Other headlines: PGA Tour continues educating betting operators on golf's potential Ticket prices surge as Aaron Judge approaches…

It's a safe bet that the Oakland Athletics baseball team will leave the city for Las Vegas, according to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. Manfred said in an interview Friday with Sirius XM that he is no longer optimistic that the A's will stay in Oakland. 'It just doesn't look like it's going to happen,' Manfred said. The Athletics' lease at the…

Cleveland ace Shane Bieber will take the mound for the Guardians and will go up against Michael Lorenzen who looks to improve his 4.82 ERA. WagerTalk MLB Analyst Brian Ochsner offers his Texas Rangers vs Houston Astros betting preview for Monday, April 25, with the first pitch scheduled for 8:05pm ET / 5:05pm PT. Stay on top of the latest MLB news…

Major League Baseball needs to be careful about where it walks, because it's nearing a slippery slope. The slope is sports gambling. Two questions immediately come to mind. What does MLB do now about banished hit king Pete Rose? As team-sponsored gambling becomes more ubiquitous, what safeguards are in place to protect the integrity of the…

If the Oakland A's strike out on their pitch for a new ballpark in the Bay Area, Las Vegas is the clear betting favorite to be their next home. Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that "Las Vegas is a viable alternative for a major league club," and oddsmakers put the city atop the list of options for the A's if they…

Matt Strahm has opinions about Major League Baseball's rule changes, and he's not afraid to share them. MLB recently announced three significant rule changes set to be implemented in 2023: a pitch clock of 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on; a ban of shifts that will force teams to have two fielders on each side of the…

NEW YORK - Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday afternoon he was "absolutely confident" that the Mets and Yankees were above board in their communications about Aaron Judge. The Athletic reported on Wednesday night that the Players Association reached out to MLB following a Nov. 3 story on SNY, the Mets television network's website, that said the…