MLB records shortest game in its history

In the first 50 games of the 2023 season, which debuts the use of the clock to track time between pitches, Major League Baseball (MLB) recorded the lowest average game length in some four decades.

The 50 games played between Thursday and Sunday averaged two hours and 38 minutes, matching the times recorded in the 1980 and 1981 seasons. One would have to go all the way back to 1979 (2:35) to find a campaign with faster matches.

The U.S. majors have not averaged less than three hours per match since 2015, when it was 2:56. In 2022, the length was 3:03, after 2021 set the all-time record, averaging three hours and 10 minutes.

Seeking to speed up the pace of play and lower the length of games, the MLB Commissioner’s Office approved a set of measures that includes the use of a clock to monitor the time it takes pitchers and hitters to generate activity.

Now, the pitcher has 15 seconds to initiate the pitching motion, the batter must be ready in the box within eight seconds, and the dead time between innings cannot exceed 30 seconds. A pitcher’s violation is punishable by a ball to the batter, while batter’s penalties become strikes in favor of the pitcher.

Pitchers have 20 seconds before initiating movement toward the plate when they have runners on base and are limited to two stops (to turn or simply to reset the clock or exchange signals with the catcher) per batter. Since last season, catchers and pitchers use an electronic system to exchange signals about which pitches they want to throw each time.

In addition, catchers must be ready to receive pitches within nine seconds, and umpires may, at their discretion, punish runners who are unwilling to return quickly to the pads.

Since previous seasons, the clock has been used to control time during dead breaks. On local television broadcasts, commercial breaks last two minutes and 15 seconds, on national broadcasts and in wild card games it goes up to 2:30 and 3:10 for the rest of the postseason.

Game length is a relatively new concern in the major leagues. After maintaining 2:30 thresholds for game lengths for some five decades, MLB jumped the three-hour barrier for the first time in the 2000 season, 66 years after first averaging 2:00 hours.