Jayson Stark takes an in-depth look at the results of implementing the three-batter minimum for relief pitchers. (Subscription may be required.) Games in 2020 were longer in terms of time, and while mid-inning pitching changes did not go down, the rule did lower multiple pitching changes in an inning. Also, left-handed batters faced left-handed relief pitchers less often.

Stark makes a very important point about the real reason for the rule change, and many rule changes we will likely see over the next few years:

So what is that movement? It’s the beginning of what appears to be baseball’s pushback against analytics. That’s not because Rob Manfred is trying to suppress all modern creative baseball thinking. He’s merely trying to rein in the portion of that modern creative baseball thinking that he – and the fans MLB has surveyed repeatedly – believe is making the sport less entertaining.

But you don’t even have to take my word for it or his word for it. Let Theo Epstein explain it.

“It’s the greatest game in the world,” the outgoing Cubs president said this week, at his farewell news conference. “But there are some threats to it because of the way the game is evolving, and I take some responsibility for that.”

TheAthletic.com

One of the points of the article is that managers didn’t like the rule, because it changed their strategy. I thought this should have been implemented a long time ago, but I would have made it that the pitcher faced three batters or allowed an earned time on base. So if they come in and issue a hit, or hit a batter, or issue a non-intentional walk, then they can be removed. That would take care of Joe Girardi’s problem with the rule, and I think that’s fine. As long at the pitcher is getting outs, he should be allowed to continue.