MLB's new rule changes might be one of the best things to happen to baseball since the 1998 Home Run Race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. With the 2023 MLB trade deadline just a few days away, the league is in the midst of its biggest attendance increase in 25 years. MLB attendance is up close to 9% for the 2023 season, according to The New York Post's Jon Heyman.

A 9% rise in MLB attendance would be the biggest jump since the 1998 season. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa famously generated renewed interest in baseball as they chased and ultimately shattered Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 home runs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lead all teams with an average attendance of more than 48,000 fans. The New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals draw more than 40,000 fans per game. The Oakland Athletics have made news for their lack of attendance, averaging just over 10,000 per home game.

There's no evidence that any single factor has directly contributed to increased MLB attendance. It stands to reason that the new rules, implemented at the start of the 2023 season, have played a significant role. The addition of the pitch clock has helped cut off more than 25 minutes for the average MLB game.

Before the 2023 All-Star Game, MLB games this year lasted two hours and 38 minutes on average. For the 2022 season, the average game time was three hours and four minutes. Baseball games are shorter than they have been in nearly 40 years.

Additional rule changes have made the game more exciting. Bigger bases and the limit on pick-off attempts have encouraged more stolen base attempts. The league made the infield shift illegal, hoping it would bring more offense to the game.

The league-wide batting average is up to .248, MLB's highest mark since before the pandemic. Stolen bases have exploded. Teams are stealing an average of 0.72 bases per game in 2023 compared to 0.51 stolen bases in 2022. After teams only scored 4.28 runs per game a season ago, they are averaging 4.59 runs per contest in 2023.

Home runs are also up from 1.07 per game last year to 1.18 per game this year.

The 2022 season did feature a Home Run Race of its own. New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit his 62nd homer on the second-to-last day of the season, breaking Maris' AL record.

Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani has a chance to challenge Judge's new record just one year later. Ohtani is smashing home runs at a near-record pace while pitching better than most MLB starters.