Olympic baseball vs MLB

Balls are not the major league Rawlings variety, but a WBSC version with slightly different seams. Then again, the WBSC ran out of baseballs at the Americas qualifying tournament in Florida and organizers switched mid-tournament to minor league balls.

The only metric is truly metric: Pitch speeds are listed on the Yokohama Stadium scoreboard in both miles per hour and kilometers per hour. For those wondering, Jacob deGrom's major league-leading 99.2 mph average velocity sounds even more unhittable at 159.6 kph.

DeGrom, of course, isn't at the Olympics, which is limited to players not on 40-man major league rosters. And even then, players who technically are eligible often are blocked by their clubs. St. Louis Triple-A left-hander Matthew Liberatore pitched for the U.S. in qualifying but the Cardinals refused to let him go to Japan, fearing a few more injuries to their major league pitching staff would put him in line for a possible promotion.

Rosters have a vintage feel. The U.S. team includes Edwin Jackson and David Robertson. The Dominican batting order in Wednesday's opener included Jose Bautista, Juan Francisco and Emilio Bonifacio. Japan, however, stopped its Central and Pacific League seasons for the Games and has Masahiro Tanaka on its pitching staff.

The radical rule placing a runner on second base at the start of each extra inning is even more extreme: Runners are placed on first AND second. MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association adopted the runner on second in extra innings last year as a pandemic method of getting people out of ballparks faster, but Commissioner Rob Manfred said it likely will be dropped after this season.

A 20-second pitch clock is used with no runners on base, similar to the one instituted at Triple-A and Double-A in 2018.

There also is a high-five limitation. No congratulations from coaches while rounding the bases. "When a batter hits a home run, members of his team shall not be allowed to touch the hitter until he has passed the home plate," the regulations state.

Probable pitchers? Perhaps. Managers' thoughts pregame? They will not be able to meet media on game days until after games, WBSC spokesman Richard Baker said. Thoughts from stars of the game? Clubhouses are closed and while players are required to walk by media on the way out of the ballpark, they do not have to speak with reporters.

Manager and coach mound trips? Instead of one per pitcher per inning without a required pitching change, three during each game without a switch, with an additional trip for each three extra innings. There is also a limit of three stoppages for managers and coaches with batters or baserunners.

Attempting to dislodge the ball by barreling into the catcher is prohibited.

"The use of electronic devices is forbidden during the games. None of the electronic devices such as cellular phones, laptops, tablets, video cameras, walkie-talkies, shall be used to communicate to on-field personnel, those in the dugout, bullpen, clubhouse and stands. The only exception to this rule is the use of phone/cellular phone to communicate between dugout and bullpen, however such device must be approved by WBSC in advance."