Baseball has a lot slower pace than other major sports such as football, basketball, and hockey.
Not only does Major League Baseball have an extensive 162-game season, but the length of each game was getting out of hand.
Many MLB games were taking 3 to 4 hours or more to finish.
With the game length appearing to drive fans away from the sport, the MLB made a rule change.
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, numbers show the effect that adding the pitch clock has had on games.
Good news for all, especially folks on deadline https://t.co/S0yqXjSno7
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) September 27, 2024
The pitch clock was first introduced at the Major League level in the 2023 season, and the effect on game length was made instantly.
Stats show the effect that the pitch clock has had on games lasting 3.5 hours or more in the last 4 seasons.
In 2021, 391 games surpassed this 3.5-hour mark while it decreased to 232 in 2022, and only 9 in 2023 when the pitch clock was added.
So far in 2024, only 7 games have reached the 3.5 hours mark as of September 26th.
These statistics only include regular 9-inning MLB games and do not include the games that go into extra innings.
The pitch clock has fixed little things that added time to games including batters stepping out of the box multiple times during an at-bat and pitchers taking their time between every pitch.
Fans appear to enjoy the addition of the pitch clock as it provides more action in a sport that tends to be slow at times.
Overall, the pitch clock appears to have fixed the game length problem and won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
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