Hartford — Imagine the following scenario, daffy as it may sound:

(The voice of John Sterling): "It all comes down to this pitch. Bases loaded, two out. Top of the ninth and the Yankees lead Boston by a run. Count three and two to Devers. Chapman ... wait! Strike three! How do you like that? Home plate umpire Laz Diaz just called the old 'auto strike' on Devers because he was out of the box and violated the pitch clock! Ballgame over! Yankees win! THEEEEEEEE Yankees win!"

Absurd? Amusing? Don't laugh. This could absolutely happen a year from now. Baseball's "pace of play" rules are coming, the enforcement of which are potentially Dylan-esque: A hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And so here we are in early May 2022. By early May 2023, the rules of disengagement will have hit the majors, whereby fans will add to their already confusing lexicon of spin rates and exit velos. Baseball fans will learn pitch clock, auto balls, auto strikes, mound disengagements and clock resets, all in the effort to turn baseball's pace from arthritic snail to hungry cheetah.

A sneak peek at pace of play permutations happen nightly in the minor leagues now, such as Tuesday night at spiffy Dunkin Donuts Park, where the Double-A Rockies (the Hartford Yard Goats) played the Double-A Mets (the Binghamton Rumble Ponies) in 3 hours, 3 minutes — just the third of the Goats' 10 home games thus far to eclipse three hours.

The pace? Faster. The players? Adjusting. The outlook getting rigid, stubborn, 10-year Major League veterans to actually do this? To be continued.

"It'll make the game move faster, if that's what you're into," Yard Goats manager and former Major Leaguer Chris Denorfia said. "This is something that's dividing our industry for sure. We've seen over the first couple of weeks that it makes the game go faster. But we've trained these guys to go at a certain pace and slow the game down. We've given them tools to do it. Now we kind of have to scrap those rules and get them to do everything faster. It's a process of a faster game in a shorter amount of time."

Here is the two-minute drill version of what the Eastern League, at Major League Baseball's behest, has implemented:

• Between innings, the timer counts down from 2:15. At 30 seconds, the last warm up pitch is thrown; at nine seconds the batter must be in the box. The pitcher must beat the clock with his first pitch or rish an "auto ball."

• There 14 seconds between pitches. The clock resets when the pitcher catches the ball from the catcher. In the case of a foul ball still on the field, the clock resets after the ballboy has retrieved the ball and is safely out of play.

• During each plate appearance, a batter is allowed to request time once. When time is called, the timer restarts the clock to 14 seconds (bases empty) or 18 seconds (runners on) when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the batter's box.

• There are 30 seconds between batters. The batter must be in the box and alert to the pitcher with at least nine seconds remaining. The pitcher may begin his motion for the first pitch as soon as the batter steps into the box and is alert to the pitcher. For the first pitch of a plate appearance, the timer starts the clock at the conclusion of the prior play.

• Pickoffs and step-offs: The pitcher is limited to a total of two "disengagements" (stepping off the rubber) per plate appearance while there's at least one runner on base. A pitcher may attempt additional disengagements in the same plate appearance, but if the defensive team does not record an out during the ensuing play and all runners safely return to the originally occupied bases, the result is a balk.

• Thirty-second mound timer: Mound visits without a pitching change are limited to five per team, per nine innings — one additional for extra innings.

Surely, much to digest. A recent story on ESPN.com reported that the new rules have shaved about 20 minutes off minor league games thus far, with but 15 percent of games exceeding three hours, compared to 52 percent at this time last year.

"The biggest difference I see," said Bruce Biel, the voice of Central Connecticut State University sports who is one of pitch-clock timers for the Yard Goats, "is that batters always stay in the box."

Denorfia and Yard Goats players say they're adjusting a little more every day. But they're skeptical of how this plays next year in the majors. Essentially, it all works in theory. But how, when and by whom will this be enforced next year and can consistent enforcement withstand the backlash?

"It's going to be a huge challenge," Denorfia said. "I don't see enforcing  a change like this without the penalty mechanism. And I also don't see how in a playoff situation, you're going to strike a guy out in a 3-2, 2-out situation with the bases loaded without a pitch being thrown. I don't think the fans are going to stand for that.

"I don't know the answer to that at the big league level. But I think exposing the players to it at the minor league level eventually will feed up to the next generation of player."

Yard Goats catcher Willie MacIver: "It's going to be rocky. Guys that have been in the majors a long time have their routine. Late in games, guys are stepping out because of the situation and we're talking 30-45 seconds between pitches.

"So if you're going to tell me bases loaded, two outs, Juan Soto at the plate and you ring him up because he's not in the box at the right time? There are going to be serious problems with that. I can't imagine the veteran guys taking it very well. The guy doing things a certain way for 10-plus years is going to have more of an issue with it than maybe a guy coming from the minors."

Then there's the plight of, say, pinch runners, who perhaps feel expendable now. They might cue Handel's Hallelujah Chorus because of their increased significance. "Disengagement," or limiting the number of times pitchers throw over, should make base stealing easier, especially late in games.

"I don't think we've seen players and teams exploit that yet because we're adjusting, but we have ideas about how," Denorfia said. "It makes putting signs on difficult. It makes changing signs difficult because you can't stop the game more than twice. The catcher can only give signs before the at bat without causing a stoppage. Your incentivizing more action on the bases because you can't stop the game as often. You're going to see teams start exploiting the new rules."

MacIver already experienced as much.

"When we have a runner on second and going through multiple signs," MacIver said, "if the pitcher shakes it off and we have to give more signs, it's more difficult. In a couple of instances, we got an auto ball called on us because weren't on the same page. It adds to our preparation."

Turns out Leo Durocher is right all over again. He once said, "baseball is like church. Many attend; few understand." Just wait until a year from now.

"Basically," Denorfia said, "it's going to take more practice to adjust the game to fit into the time frame that MLB wants. Sometimes, the best way to learn is through the mistakes."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro