Used to be you saw many people at the game "keeping score". Almost always men but a few women as well.
Now it seems to be a lost art.
Posted on 09/03/2019 5:13:15 PM PDT by Jacquerie
Despite efforts to speed up baseball, the average time of a nine-inning game in Major League Baseball is three hours and five minutes.
That equals the mark which was set in 2017, after which MLB and the players’ association responded by limiting the number of mound visits per game. Other time-saving measures including shortened breaks between innings and eliminating pitches being thrown during intentional walks have been imposed, but MLB games still drag on a snail’s pace.
One of the biggest reasons games are taking so long is that batters are more focused on hitting home runs and pitchers are more focused on getting strikeouts. That combination has led to batters seeing an average of 3.92 pitchers per plate appearance, the highest mark in the 21 seasons the stat has been tracked.
In order to cut down on wasting time with pitching changes, pitchers will be forced to face at least three batters starting next year.
(Excerpt) Read more at insidehook.com ...
Ditto!
It doesn’t NEED to be sped up.
It’s wonderful the way it is, and it’s a nice way to spend a couple hours out of a hectic day.
Cut the game to 2 innings.
And reduce the outs to one per inning.
One ball is a walk.
One strike is an out.
That will still leave plenty of time for commercials.
Most folks don't appreciate a great pitching duel that may lead to a 1-0 game.
MLB sold out a while back in trying to focus on the long-ball.
No, games are way too long. Put pitchers on the clock, with pickoff moves resetting the clock. Limit batters stepping out of the box; some do it between every pitch...BS.
I agree. I would go to a seven-inning game.
A lot of problems in baseball would be solved by actually calling the zone the way it is described in the rulebook. Right now the top of the zone isn’t consistently called, at least how I read it. An electronic zone that actually represents the rulebook would be a bloodbath for hitters. I think there would be a lot of 1-0 12 inning games played in 2 hours until players made the adjustment which would probably take seasons.
The problem with baseball is that the casual fan loves offense and runs, that goes for any sport. But in baseball scoring more means longer games. They could do something like raising the mound to shorten games but that would turn off casual fans who would rather see a 12-9 slug-fest than a 2-1 pitching duel.
Freegards
And while we’re on the subject, football games are excruciatingly long. Go to 12-minute quarters, stop stopping the clock for incomplete passes, or keep the clock running during commercial breaks.
That would slow the game down quite a bit - especially if each one gets 8-10 warmup tosses. :)
Used to be you saw many people at the game "keeping score". Almost always men but a few women as well.
Now it seems to be a lost art.
Yep, the pitchers of old didn’t take a full minute between pitches like many in today’s game do. The modern-day viewer spends seemingly half the game watching pitchers fidget around on the mound.
Rule 8.04: “When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call ‘Ball’.”
The issue here, obviously, is that the rule is never enforced.
Yep. It’s one of the more interesting aspects of the game. It does force you to pay attention.
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Awful! This is where managers really show their smarts. The chess game of pitcher vs. pitch hitters and substitutions. just because stupid Millennials and Gen Z'ers have a 12 second attention span don't ruin it for those of us who love the game
Drag on at a snail’s pace?
This idiot writer obviously knows squat about baseball.
This is a real game, as opposed to silly basketball where you don’t have to bother to watch until the last 20 seconds of the game.
Jose Altuve of the Astros is a great player but he backs out of the box and un-velcros his gloves after every pitch even if he doesn’t swing. Drives me nuts.
Change the ball back to 2005 standards. The game will take care of itself.
commercials
we have a winner
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