Let me make this clear from the start: I’m a big fan of major league baseball’s pitch clock to speed up the game. And so far, the changes have been working famously, shaving nearly 30 minutes off the length of a game.
I don’t miss the countless number of times batters would adjust their sleeves, step out of the box, call for time, step back in, then go through the same routine on the next pitch.
And I don’t miss the number of times pitchers would step off the rubber, shake off the catcher, or throw over to first base four straight times, then lean in for the signs all over again.
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Baseball was always supposed to be timeless, the thinking went, making the idea of a pitch clock as blasphemous as trying to steal second with a 10-run lead.
So the pitch clock made sense. Baseball was losing fans. Attendance was down; TV ratings were cratering. Nobody was willing to sit through four-hour games just to play nine innings.
But maybe the pitch clock has worked too well, to the detriment of how we watch and enjoy the game.
Everybody’s in a rush
That’s because baseball resembles an Olympic relay team now, with everyone always in a rush, whether it’s getting into the batter’s box and ready to hit before there are 8 seconds left on the clock, or the pitcher not able to shake off a sign in order to pitch within 15 seconds − 20 seconds if there’s someone on base.
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola last week tried to slow down the game by asking for another ball. The umpire said no, kept the clock running, and Nola was charged with a ball because the clock expired.
Phillies star Bryce Harper often doesn’t have enough time to put on his bulky elbow brace after getting on base. And that’s with first base coach Paco Figueroa wearing it until Harper reaches first base. And then Harper has about 25 seconds to get the brace from Figueroa, fit it over his arm and secure the straps.
It’s like trying to put on and buckle a ski boot in 25 seconds. Good luck.
Often, Harper can’t finish securing it in time for the next pitch. So if the next batter hits the first pitch, Harper is running the bases with the brace flapping against his arm.
Harper is wearing the brace as a safety precaution. He had elbow surgery last November, and he risks rupturing it if he gets hit there sliding into a base. When Harper first returned last month, he asked MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for extra time to secure his brace. He was denied.
“Pace of play thing, of course,” Harper told reporters. “It’s going to be tough. I usually have only about, what, 22 seconds to get it on. Sometimes it gets jammed or caught.”
As the great San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote more than 40 years ago: “The clock doesn’t matter in baseball. Time stands still or moves backward. Theoretically, one game could go on forever. Some seem to.”
Caen wasn’t wrong about that, especially in 2021 when the average major league game lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes. It was 3:03 last year.
When taken at its core, that’s not an eternity. After all, an NFL game takes about that long, and no one is complaining about the length of games.
The difference is that pretty much every NFL game takes about that long. So you know that if you’re watching a game that starts at 1 p.m., it’ll be over by 4:15, 4:30 at the latest. A Sunday night game starting at 8:15 p.m. will be over by 11:30.
No longer appointment viewing
You can plan your day, and your TV viewing schedule, around that.
Before this season in baseball, you had no clue, other than it was going to take a long time.
Your TV habits might be similar to mine. Before the pitch clock, I would tune in for the start of a Phillies game, then stream a show for an hour, then pick up the Phillies game in the fifth inning or so, and watch to conclusion − or until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.
We all know what often came first.
I tried that last week for a 6:40 p.m. game against the Detroit Tigers on June 6. I watched until about 7:30, then streamed an episode of “Succession” figuring I’d catch the last few innings of the game.
Nope, the game was over in 2 hours, 7 minutes. Last season, we’d call that the top of the sixth inning.
So I thought to myself, “What am I going to do now?”
Naturally, I watched another episode of “Succession.”
Tick, tick, tick
Last year, through the first 68 games, the Phillies played 54 games that lasted more than 3 hours, including two nine-inning games that lasted more than 4 hours.
This year, through 68 games, the Phillies have played only seven games that lasted more than 3 hours. Their longest game this season is 3:32.
Think about all the workers or schoolkids who can no longer use baseball as an excuse for oversleeping the next morning. Now they’ll have to come up with another excuse.
According to baseball-reference.com, only 0.2% of games this season are lasting longer than 3 hours, 30 minutes. Last year, the percentage was 10.5%. In 2021, it was an all-time high of 18.7%.
Conversely, this year, 33.3% of the games are ending in less than 2 hours, 30 minutes. In 2022, it was 3.8%. In 2022, it was 2.5%.
Bring back lollygagging
All of which makes you long for the days of lollygagging.
So a scene like in the 1988 movie “Bull Durham” will certainly never happen again, where the manager is berating the team for being a bunch of lollygaggers.
“You guys, you lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. Do you what that makes you?
“Lollygaggers. … This is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball.”
But now, you have to do it like the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic getting a shot off in traffic with the shot-clock about to expire.
There should be room for compromise. Slow it down a bit. Add about 5 or 10 seconds to the clock, making it 20 seconds with no one on base to throw a pitch, or 30 seconds with a runner on.
Give a pitcher a few extra seconds to shake off a sign, step off the rubber. And give a batter a few extra seconds to pull on his sleeve while scanning the outfield positioning.
That might add another 10-15 minutes to the average length of a game.
The game will still be over in under three hours. But there would be enough time to stream a show, then catch the last few innings. Or at least give Harper enough time to get that elbow brace secured.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
