The first game of Spring Training is in the books leaving only 32 days until Opening Day at Dodger Stadium on March 30th against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Players and fans alike got a taste of some of the new rule changes in Saturday afternoon’s game. Most notably, the pitch timer, where violations of 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on will result in an automatic ball or strike. And if it happens to be ball four in the ninth inning to tie – or win – the game, well…

(Note: This actually happened on Saturday afternoon).

There are also larger bases in play, going from fifteen inches to eighteen inches in width. And shift restrictions that limit the infield to two infielders on each side of the second base line with both feet in the dirt when the pitch is released.

During the game there were three pitch timer violations, two on pitchers and one on a player. As expected, there are a lot of mixed feelings about the changes to the game, especially from baseball traditionalists. Regardless of how awkward it was for players, it only took two hours and twenty-one minutes to play the game shaving time off of the three plus hour average.

Six-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger, and Gold Glove first baseman Freddie Freeman slugged the first home run of the season for Los Angeles with a two-run moonshot in the top of the third inning. He shared his opinion on some of the rule changes with SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson.

“For me, it doesn’t really affect me,” Freeman stated. “I’m pretty fast getting in the box. We had a meeting last night. That’s the one thing is I’ll probably be hitting behind Mookie this year. And Mookie puts a glove on on first base. So that’s the thing, I don’t know, like, when they’re going to start clocks. We still got some rules we got to figure out. If him putting on his glove is going to cost me an 0-1 strike. So there’s just some things of getting used to, but the bases feel the same once you get out there.”

Of course, there were many young, new faces working hard to earn a spot on the roster. Right-handed pitcher Michael Grove took the mound and started the top of the first inning off with a strike. He threw eight consecutive strikes before giving up a solo home run to Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez.

After the game, the young pitcher spoke about his day with the media.

“I thought it was a pretty good, you know, three-pitch mix today,” Grove reflected. “Didn’t get the changeup in there, but everything was coming out well. Obviously, the one homer, but you know take that with a grain of salt. You know, a lot of strikes, so I was happy about it.”

Centerfielder James Outman was the first Dodgers hitter to benefit from the shift being banned. He singled in the top of the second inning by hitting a grounder to Brewers right fielder Joey Wiemer that might have otherwise been caught under the “old” rules.

Freeman mentioned teammate Outman’s take on the change during his in-game interview while offering his veteran opinion on the new shift rules.

“I mean obviously it’s a big talk about offensively,” Freeman said. “I think it’s going to be a big talk defensively too because you know some teams can just put someone on second base and kind of cover him with the short stop over there. But now the second baseman needs to be able to have more range and do stuff like that. You can’t just hide three guys on the side of that field. So, I think James (Outman) was very happy with his at-bat today. He said that he loves the new rules.”

Fans saw Miguel Vargas start the game at second base despite suffering an injury to his right pinkie finger during practice. It was determined to be a hairline fracture from a ground ball which resulted in him laying off swinging the bat for a few days.

At the top of the third inning, Vargas was the lead-off hitter. Even though he was in the batter’s box, he was instructed not to swing and instead focus on tracking the ball while his finger healed. Even though Brewers right-hander Elvis Peguero knew the young Dodgers second baseman would not be swinging, he walked him … on four pitches.

With Spring Training underway, fans will finally get the taste of baseball they have been waiting for all off season. Time will tell what the long-term impact of the new rule changes will have on the game or who will make the regular season roster. Everyone will have a little over a month to get used to things before the regular season begins.

As Freeman said, “I mean, the rules are rules. You get rules, some new rules in life, you adjust to them. You just take them and move on and just play baseball.”

Yet another way that baseball mirrors life and another reason to love the game.

Here’s to the start of another new season!

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