It’s Time to Fix Baseball’s “Pace-of-Game” Problem

I love the game of baseball! Yet, at times, it can be like watching paint dry.

Why? There are several reasons to contemplate.

The big dogs who oversee Major League Baseball are trying to figure out how to pick up the speed of these 3 hour-ish long games we are having to sit through. 

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred promised that they’re working on the issue, “I’m not prepared to accept the fact that we’re always going to play three-hour games. I think we need to continue to think about creative ways to make sure that the game moves along as quickly as possible.”

Jayson Stark of ESPN wrote an article on this subject, which I thought it was pretty good, so I’m sharing it with you. It doesn’t take more than a few pitches to read…

Major League Baseball doesn’t have to pay me for this input/consideration: expand the strike zone! 

Here’s the Cliff Notes on the Stark piece: too many pitches are being thrown, which means fewer balls are being put in play, which leads to longer games and more dead time.  

Ultimately, these longer games are keeping fans away, too. 

I coached hundreds of competitive youth baseball games, ages 9-14. The best umpires made it clear at the beginning of games they wanted the players to swing the bat. In other words, the umps said, “I’m giving the pitcher a big strike zone so get in the box and be ready to swing!”

Bigger strike zones equaled a much more compelling game…for the players and the fans. 

So….batter up, swing the bat and play ball!