NEW YORK — While the baseball world begins its 30-day countdown to the playoffs, I’m looking at a second, silent calendar that matters just as much:

Five years.

That’s how much longer MLB is stuck with commissioner Rob Manfred. Seems like an eternity. I can only hope he hasn’t completely ruined the game by then.

I was thinking about Manfred’s reign on Saturday, when the Yankees were called for a pitch-clock violation in the ninth inning of what became a 6-5 loss to the Cardinals.

The violation might not have directly sabotaged the Yankees, but their late rally was certainly throttled by home plate umpire Ben May.

Strike three was called on Orlando Cabrera, who was leading off the inning, because he wasn’t in the batter’s box in time.

With a 3-2 count, Cabrera failed to make eye contact with the pitcher with eight seconds remaining on the countdown.

May ripped off his mask, waved his arms and sent Cabrera back the dugout. At-bat over.

Cabrera pleaded with the ump. He insisted he beat the clock. The YES slow-motion replay said it was close. May wouldn’t listen.

Aaron Boone joined in, but for once didn’t get thrown out. There’s no arguing with an electronic brain.

I wonder if Manfred believes baseball benefits from an absurd over-enforcement of his new edicts. This is not progress. It’s a surrender to technology.

I hope the next commissioner remembers the value of common sense, especially with robo umps just around the corner. But it might be too late by 2029.

Manfred has already damaged a sport that, although flawed, didn’t feel like the video game it is today

It’s been one gimmick after another. Consider Manfred’s rap sheet:

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RESTORING THE GLORY

*The 10th-inning ghost runner:

This abomination has all but eliminated the drama of extra innings. The home team that ties the game in the bottom of the ninth immediately forfeits that momentum in the 10th.

The visitors are awarded a runner on second. The go-ahead run is a near-prophecy.

Manfred obviously can’t wait to get the games over with. But at least delay the ghost runner until the 11th or 12th inning. Let that ninth-inning comeback breathe.

*Broadcasts disappearing behind hide-and-seek paywalls.

Whether it’s Amazon, Apple TV or Roku, streaming is Manfred’s most cynical brainchild.

He doesn’t care that a majority of baseball fans are in 55-64 age group. That’s low-tech boomer country.

Nor is the commissioner bothered by the fact that YES reaches nine million households in the tri-state area. Many are left out when it’s the Yankees’ turn to migrate behind the paywall.

Too bad for them. Manfred is more interested in younger fans who no longer pay for cable. But the commissioner wants revenue. He’s hungry for more TV cash.

But all he’s done is split up as many games as possible over multiple outlets – all paid for separately.

*The third wild card.

Many fans like this, but MLB is doing its best to keep the top teams from meeting in the World Series. Instead, 40 percent of the clubs end up in the playoffs.

Sorry, but that third wild card, the No. 6 seed, should not be welcome in October.

As for the division winners who get a bye in the Wild Card Series, does a week off really help?

*City Connect jerseys.

Awful and ugly all around. The Guardians’ rendition looks especially bad. Same goes for the Mets, whose “NYC” insignia looks too much like the Yankees’ interlocking “NY.”

Why does MLB consider this a good idea?

“Eliminating the shift, limiting pick-off attempts, enlarging the bases.

Bad, bad, and good. In that order.

Changing the dimensions of the bases is a smart way to help prevent injuries. Otherwise, this is too much interference from the nerds on Park Avenue.

Next thing you know, Manfred will decide how long a starting pitcher has to stay in the game.

Oh. Wait.

*Starting pitching’s six-inning mandate.

It’s coming. Or at least it’s being discussed at MLB headquarters. We might as well change Manfred’s title to Big Brother.

Apparently the commissioner has decided there are still too many strikeouts, thanks to too many relievers throwing high-90s heat.

The solution? Wear down the starters’ velocity by making them throw a minimum of six innings.

Why dilute the product – tiring arms losing velocity, hanging more pitches – to even the playing field?

Wait, wouldn’t Aaron Judge and Juan Soto hit more home runs this way?

Hopefully this idea goes nowhere. Let’s table that discussion because our beef today is with that pitch clock.

*Pace of Game:

I get it: those four-hour marathons between the Yankees and Red Sox in the early 2000s had a corrosive effect on the sport’s popularity.

It might explain why so many young fans fled MLB and gravitated towards the NBA.

Making a pitcher throw every 15 seconds (and 20 seconds with a runner on base) has created in-game momentum. And it doesn’t seem to have harmed the hard throwers, although there’s no long-term data just yet.

But declaring a batter has to be in the box and making eye contact in the last eight seconds – even if the pitcher isn’t on the rubber yet – is silly.

Who cares if he’s gazing at the pitcher’s baby blues? And what’s the difference between eight seconds and seven? Or six or five?

Or, what if he is in the box at the eight-second mark but the umpire says he’s not?

Cabrera swore the ump was wrong on Saturday. But because no appeals are allowed on pitch-clock violations, a subjective decision by the ump is final.

This is one example where technology would help. So would a little perspective from the umpire.

Even if Cabrera was a micro-second late, was he trying to stall? Was he willfully defying MLB’s goal of improved pace of play?

Of course not.

So we hereby offer one more gimmick to help Manfred. It’s so old it might even seem novel to Big Brother.

It’s called common sense.

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Bob Klapisch may be reached at bklapisch@njadvancemedia.com.