Much like the approval numbers for the pitch clock and the ban on defensive shifts, the increase of base size approval remained steady or increased from pre-season to in-season.

Among avid fans, however, the support for the ban rises to 62 percent in favor with just 17 percent opposed – a more than 3 to 1 margin. Among sports fans, that support drops to 49-18. The ban on shifts is favored by MLB fans by a 53-19 margin (remainder neither agree nor disagree). Acceptance of the ban is up slightly across the board from pre-season to in-season though the support overall is not as robust as the support for the pitch clock. The ban on defensive shifts in the field were implemented to give hitters (especially left-hand hitters) a better opportunity for base hits. “These approval numbers for the rule changes seemingly verify that MLB made the right call.' 'These rule changes were a major risk for Major League Baseball given a fan-base that is overwhelmingly steeped in tradition,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business, which sponsors the Poll. “These numbers are compelling, and they’ve held from what was pre-season theoretical to actual in-season practice.' 'America’s Pastime is now passing less of it – and the end result could well be more fan engagement,” said Daniel Ladik, Marketing Professor in the Stillman School and chief methodologist to the Poll. There was, however, a slight drop (3 percent) for approval by self-described avid fans (now just 70 percent approval) of the pitch clock, which is largely credited for reducing game times by nearly 30 minutes. The approval rating for fans in general rose 3 percent to 62 percent and among MLB fans the approval rating stayed constant at 65 percent. Census Bureau figures for gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percent. The poll featured a national representative sample from YouGov weighted on U.S. These were among the findings of a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted last week among 1,509 adults across the country. And in all cases, the approval response generally mirrored or improved upon the pre-season impressions. Now, some two months into the season, the Poll again asked how the public felt about three rules in particular – the pitch clock, the larger bases, and the ban on overshifts. In some cases, support from self-described fans, avid fans and Major League Baseball fans, was enthusiastic. Before the Major League Baseball season began (March, 2023), the Seton Hall Sports Poll found that fans embraced the new rules implemented for this season.

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