Find right way to fix length-of-game issues

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By Matt Muncy, April 23, 2010

After the opening Yankees-Red Sox series this season, umpire Joe West decided it was a good time to speak out against how long the games took. He called the two teams “embarrassing” and “a disgrace to baseball.”

 

West’s comments seem a bit rash. The games went three hours, 46 minutes; three hours 48 minutes; and three hours 21 minutes between arguably the two best teams in the league. Who would want the game to end?

 

Many players instantly spoke out against West and the overwhelming sentiment was “if you don’t want to be here, then go home.”

 

I couldn’t agree more.

 

Baseball has always been a game of endurance. It is not like other sports where you have a clock and the games end once the time is up. There are no time limitations on baseball.

For example, the Mets-Cardinals game Saturday lasted six hours and 53 minutes. I didn’t see the umpires complaining about the 20-inning game.

 

These long games were not blowouts, either. The Yankees-Red Sox games went 9-7, 6-4 and 3-1, respectively. The Mets-Cardinals game ended in a 2-1 Mets victory and neither team scored until the 18th inning.

 

Game times have increased an hour-and-a-half since 1900 – when the games took on average an hour and a half – due to many factors.

 

First was the invention of television. Not only did television allow people to watch the games from home, but it also gave the teams another revenue stream. Commercials were placed in between innings and the time allotted for these ads has increased over the years.

 

In the 1960s, baseball games were averaged two-and-a-half hours, an hour more than in the early days of baseball. They now take close to three hours to complete.

 

Offensive production has increased over the years, as well. Several changes to the game have been made to increase scoring and hitting to make the game more exciting, but has made the games last longer as a consequence.

 

The MLB decided to lower the mound in 1969 in order to benefit the batter as 1968 became known as the year of the pitcher. In the late 1990s, steroids added to an increase in home runs which added an increase to offense and time.

 

The last big increase has been the amount of time pitchers take to throw and the amount of times batters step out of the box between pitches.

 

Baseball’s commissioner Bud Selig commented on the issue in an ESPN article and couldn’t have phrased it better.

 

“My gripe is that a guy gets in the batter’s box, looks at one pitch and then has to get out and adjust his equipment — and he hasn’t even swung at anything,” he said.

 

This is the easiest problem to fix. Selig needs to use his power and make sure the players are not abusing the privileges and to keep the flow of the game going as best as they can.

 

A concept the MLB cannot fix is the perception of time when a fan is watching the game at the ballpark or simply watching the game on television. It appears games take longer while you are watching them on television — probably because so many commercials interrupt the flow of the game.

 

I know I have this feeling every time I watch a Cubs game on television or I attend an Indianapolis Indians game.

 

The MLB needs to fix the intangibles of the game instead of messing with the game itself.