Posted on 05/01/2014 2:10:31 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The Boston Red Sox spent last winter basking in the afterglow of their World Series victory. They also spent some of it pondering a couple of questions: Why do their games take so long? And what should Major League Baseball do about it?
At the request of commissioner Bud Selig, the perennially slow-paced Red Sox formed a committee of seven team executives to study the issue and recommend changes for the league as a whole. A volunteer corps of 30 front-office staffers spent over 350 hours combing through video of Boston's 2013 regular-season games, charting every little drag on the pace of play.
The Red Sox, whose games averaged an MLB-high 3 hours 15 minutes in 2013, are only about halfway done with the project. But the fact that such a committee even exists shows how little progress MLB has made in its attempts to speed up the game.
"This is one of the most critical issues facing baseball as we move forward into the next three, five, seven years," Red Sox chief operating officer Sam Kennedy said.
Selig has expressed concern about the pace of play for years. It has become almost cliché for fans to grumble about hitters stepping out of the batter's box, pitchers pacing around the mound and—no, not another pitching change! But for all of the attention the issue has received, the speed of the game continues to reach new lows.
Entering Thursday, the average game time this season was 3:08, according to Stats LLC. Never mind comparisons to the days of flannel jerseys and black-and-white telecasts: That is 13 minutes longer than the average time in 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Faster moving than watching a golf tournament,more civilized than soccer.
Soccer, yes; hockey NO!
I felt that way until I followed one team at the games. Once I learned what to look for, something was going on all over the field with every pitch. Coaches, managers, bull pen, fielders location, base runners - I really learned to love the game. In football you actually see more on TV. But with baseball you only get to see a small portion of the action. I really learned to love the game.
Pitch clock, no mound conferences, limit the number of times the pitcher can “attempt” to throw out a guy taking a lead off, and limit the number of times the batter can step out of the box. Not only would that shorten the games, it would get rid of the most boring parts.
1. Limit players to just one time at bat.
2. No substitutions.
3. 9 outs per inning and only one inning.
4. Ties are allowed.
5. No extra innings.
6. Home team bats second.
7. Game is over when the game is tied after 18 batters have been to the plate.
8. Game is over whenever the home team gets ahead.
9. Ticket price refunded for all games ending in a tie.
Maybe when they’re not facing the Sox, Yankees-Sox games tend to be the longest of the season.
Love it.
Baseball is not a game for people in a hurry. There are sports like that. Golf is another one. Baseball isn’t broken, despite the best attempts of some people to bury it.
If you look at football, where the ball is actually in play for only a few minutes out of sixty, you see a sport with a reputation for being fast that really isn’t.
Sports like hockey, where the puck is almost constantly in motion and where substitutions are allowed during play, is better for those who seek action. For scoring, I suppose there’s always basketball.
Most cable providers now offer dvr service for about 10 bucks a month. Very useful for recording games and then quickly just watching the plays, rather than watching the pitcher standing on the mound, getting ready, and getting the sign from the catcher. The total time that elapses while the pitcher is holding the ball has got to be 80-90% of the total time of the game, with the relief pitcher parade accounting for a good deal of the remainder.
That and limit TV commercial breaks, is about all one can do without compromising the game.
A Yankee friend of mine forced me to go to a hockey game with him. (back when the Flames were in Atlanta)
I liked that they sent out that big machine to clean the ice during halftime, and got up to leave.
He then told me, "No, no....they play another period".
"Holy Jesus....I gotta sit through more of this?!"
At least the Tuborg beer was good.
If you love baseball it isn’t slow if you don’t iti is. I suppose games could be 7 innings - still there is a beauty to baseball that is easier to see if you ever played the game.
I would figure 2. My wife for whatever reason over the past few years has become a sports addict, esp. boring college baseball. I don’t care about sports enough really to amount to anything.
When I go to a game I just watch the women...
I know it's hard to believe they played with the other team's gloves out there, but I've asked about this and know it's true.
Three balls, three strikes, and no more than one foul ball after two strikes.
baseball needs a play clock just like football. That would solve everything.
Funny, the few times I watched a bit when my dad had a game on, I just saw a constantly scratching and spitting.
Still laugh remember the comments after the Iran hostages came back a someone wanted to offer them lifetime season tickets to some baseball team.
A wag said "Haven't they suffered enough?"
Not in amillion years! That game would not be baseball.
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