Although the future of baseball still appears very bright, many wonder if the slow nature of the sport and efforts from other leagues to increase the entertainment value will slowly chip away at their younger audience. In an effort to keep butts in the seats and eyeballs fixated on local and national broadcasts, the MLB has begun implementing new rules aimed to speed up the game, with three going in affect for the 2015 season.
Batters are no longer allowed to leave the batter’s box during at-bats, unless in the case of a foul ball, wild pitch, etc. Managers do not delay the game when deciding on whether or not to challenge a call but instead make the decision to challenge from the dugout. And lastly, there is a timer set for length between innings.
It appears those three rules are already paying dividends, with the average game shortened by eight minutes. According to ESPN, there were 79 nine-inning games through the first week of the 2015 season that averaged 2 hours, 54 minutes and 39 seconds. Last year’s first week of 85 nine-inning games averaged 3 hours, 2 minutes and 25 seconds.
Most people were expecting the time to be trimmed down a tad but nearly a full eight minutes after just a week of games is pretty impressive and the number will likely increase as players adjust to remaining in the box and are not forced to be given the occasional reminder.
[ESPN]
Photo Courtesy: Tom Olmscheid/AP
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