The Baseball Time Quandary
Ken Raffensberger, member of the 1950 Cincinatti Reds pitching staff For many years, leading up to a 2023 season rule change creating a pitch clock, there was much "sturm und drang" about how Major League Baseball games just take too darn long to play. Personally, I never quite got what all of the fuss was about, and of course, it was always the outlier games that were cited as proof. Yes, when the Yankees vs. Red Sox are playing into their 5th hour, it can be a bit of a bore, but that is the exception and not the rule. MLB Games in 2022, the year before the pitch clock rule, lasted, on average, about 3:07. The "3 batter rule" of 2019, despite attempting to limit pitching changes, did not markedly affect the game time, which, I might add, is very similar in overall game time to an NFL game. And the NFL (and football in general) is a sport which is rigidly timed and is far more popular than baseball despite the length of the games. To be fair, an average MLB team pla...