With a profusion of pitching changes, pinch-hitting announcements and fielding realignments, a baseball game can slow interminably in the later innings. But to decision makers in the dugout — those who make strategic adjustments while looking ahead to the next pitch, the next batter, the next inning — it feels as if it is speeding up.

Through much of baseball history, the manager was seen as a solitary figure, making decisions without help. These days, though, many are pictured as attached at the hip to their bench coaches, who ponder every possible situation, evaluate statistics, time a pitcher’s speed to the plate, shift infielders, keep role players informed and offer tactical ideas.

“They’re not just making suggestions; that’s not really the right word,” said Houston Astros Manager Brad Mills, who was a bench coach in Montreal in 2003 and in Boston from 2004 to 2009. “It’s a constant conversation, a flow.”

Referring to his bench coach, Mills said, “Joe Pettini and I got in a cab at 8 o’clock this morning and started talking about our players and who we’re facing, and we will build on that through the game.”