June 25, 201610 yr Everyone complains about major league baseball being too slow and games taking too long. Last night a 9 inning game took 4 1/2 hours to complete. Here is a radical idea to help fix this: Make professional baseball games 7 innings instead of nine.
June 25, 201610 yr Hate the idea. Not many games go 4.5 hours. I go to several a year and longest I've been to throw year was a little over 3 hours.
June 25, 201610 yr Author Three hours is still a long time for an every day sports event. Three hours is the current average length of a MLB game. Pro basketball, soccer, hockey ... all significantly shorter. With the slow pace of the game, it feels even longer than three hours to the majority who watch games. A 7 inning game will put more urgency into everything happening in the game.
June 25, 201610 yr I have always expected a game to last around 3 hours. Not to long for most fans. Football games go longer than they use to. They usually Go over 3 hours. I don't see people complaining about that.
June 25, 201610 yr Certainly would diminish the role of the setup man and possibly the closer. Bullpens would definitely be much smaller. Rosters would be as well.
June 25, 201610 yr Author Bullpens would definitely be much smaller. Rosters would be as well. Agreed. There is very little likelihood this would ever get put in place. Think of the roadblocks: Smaller rosters (Player's Union will fight that to the end). Less revenue - shorter games means lower concession sales, less TV/radio ad time History - Baseball loves it's history. Records from 100 years ago are still relevant today. A 7 inning game changes all of that - more complete games, fewer saves, more shutouts, more no hitters, lower season long stats due to fewer innings and at bats. Obviously this is a super long shot of an idea. But, baseball knows it has a problem with game length. Their first fix attempts have been incremental improvements at best - not impactful. If you don't shorten the game length, how do you shorten game time?
June 25, 201610 yr Baseball for thought: If Team A and just demolishing Team B, have a run rule like high school. If Team A is beating Team B by 10+ runs then call the game in the 5th or 6th inning. Once a team starts running away with a game, the viewers will get up and start leaving and people will start turning something else on the tv.
June 25, 201610 yr :puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
June 25, 201610 yr Author :puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke: :laugh: I was thinking about going ahead and writing your response but figured you would enjoy doing it yourself. When you drive 2 1/2 hours for a game, I am sure you don't mind the game lasting 4 hours.
June 25, 201610 yr One Radical idea that I've had for a while, that will never happen for various reasons, is to limit games to Thurs-Sun each week. Pluses: -No long drawn out road trips for players...would be back home every Sunday night/Monday morning at worst. -Players would rest on days off thus playing in a higher percentage of games...hate to drive 3 hours and your favorite player is taking the night off. -Teams would only need 4 starters...with pitching being so hard to find, this would be a big plus for most teams. -Stadium operations would be more efficient...as stadiums would be open less while serving more people per game. -Reduction in injuries...no one like to see a division determined because of injuries, less games+more rest=less injuries. Minuses: -Less games means stats would not be comparable to the past...baseball is driven by stats and history more than any other sport. -More off time for players to do stupid things and get in trouble. -Less games would mean less revenue for teams with high attendance currently. -MLBPA would balk at any reduction in contracts based on playing less games...but with 3 days off each week, MLB players may welcome this. Options: Teams/Owners could add 26 games to this schedule by adding one Double-Header to each 4 game series making it a 5 game series From Thur-Sun Could alter schedule for TV sake...AL plays Thurs-Sun one year and Fri-Mon the next with the NL playing on the opposite schedule. This would give TV MLB games on 5 out of 7 nights.
June 25, 201610 yr Baseball plays everyday. It is a marathon. That is one of the things I love about baseball.
June 25, 201610 yr Might as well start every batter with a 2-1 count. Kershaw might walk 30 guys a year.
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