MLB game times still rising
Efforts to buck trend seem to be falling short
Major League Baseball games are still getting longer — a slow drip that figures to increase the likelihood strong action will be taken to curtail the trend.
After another slate of nine-inning odysseys Monday, the average time of game hit 3 hours, 5 minutes, which would be an all- time high by three minutes for a full season and a 3% increase from 2016’s average nine-inning game — an even three hours.
Including extra-inning games, the average game time is 3:09. Both numbers trump highs of 3:02 and 3:07, both set in 2014, according to data gathered by Baseball-Reference.com.
As the weather warms and home runs — also headed for an all-time high — continue flying out of the park, games are getting longer. Since June 6, the time of a game has ticked up a minute in a sample of 1,133 games.
Monday’s eight-game sample didn’t help. All were nine-inning affairs, and six were won by the home team, which means the bottom of the ninth inning was not played. Still, the slate averaged 3 hours, 16 minutes, headed by the Chicago Cubs-Washington Nationals affair that lasted 3:54 and featured 11 pitching changes.
“Sometimes baseball’s like that,” Cubs outfielder Albert Almora said Tuesday. “Pitchers throwing, hitters are going deep into counts, that all takes into effect. You can’t take that away from the game, so I mean, I think it was just a well-played, intense baseball game.”
Improving the pace of play has been a key initiative for Commissioner Rob Manfred, who has hinted at unilateral action if an agreement to move games along couldn’t be reached with the players association.
Efforts this year to stem the tide — such as the automatic intentional walk and imposing a limit on deliberation for replay challenges — apparently haven’t had a significant effect.
A pitch clock exists in minor league games and figures to be on the table at the major league level, perhaps as soon as 2018.