MLB’s spring training a test run for new rule changes

By DAVID BRANDT
AP Sports Writer

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Spring training games might be a little ugly this year, particularly during the first few weeks of the schedule. For Major League Baseball, that’s a feature, not a bug. The Grapefruit and Cactus League games in Florida and Arizona will be used as a petri dish for many of the sport’s new rule changes, including a pitch clock, bigger bases and limits to infield shifts. The idea is that the worst kinks will be worked out before the regular season starts in late March. Though there’s multiple rule changes, one stands above the rest. MLB’s Morgan Sword called the pitch clock “probably the biggest change that’s been made to baseball in most of our lifetimes.”