Chicago Cubs: Is baseball unfairly criticized for pace-of-play and replay?

The MLB Players Association and officials from Major League Baseball are reportedly going to meet to discuss pace-of-play changes for the 2018 season. Chicago Cubs skipper Joe Maddon has had some classic moments of disgruntlement with umpires. But are all the criticisms against baseball’s pace-of-play fair?

We’re just about five weeks away from Chicago Cubs pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring camp. But news around free agency and the trade market has been slow. The biggest names like Jake Arrieta, Yu Darvish and J.D. Martinez have yet to sign anywhere.

Since the only interesting part of the offseason hasn’t developed into anything yet, we’re left to read about pace-of-play issues and why they’re supposedly ruining the sport. Talking about pace-of-play is generally about as exciting as a wet carrot, but let’s do it anyway!

The game has changed

I’ll start by saying I do think Major League Baseball games could be quicker. But some of the proposed changes over the past few years have been nothing short of ridiculous.

Others just seem a bit desperate. Like the current intentional walk rule. Do I really care about seeing four balls being thrown to issue an intentional walk? No. But has it made much of a difference in average game times? Again, no.

The bottom line is the game has changed in ways that have stretched out the time to play. Most notably, relief pitchers. There was a time when pitch count wasn’t monitored as carefully as it is now. And so starting pitchers went longer. Relief pitchers are now a much bigger part of the game. More relief pitching means more time waiting for pitchers to warm up. There isn’t a lot you can do about that.

Replay

Whether you are a fan of replay in baseball or not, there’s no denying it adds to the time it takes to complete a game. The last major sport to adopt replay reviews as part of the game, replay in baseball takes longer than it needs to. Most times, the outcome looks fairly obvious upon the first viewing. But you wouldn’t think so based on how long it takes the umpires in New York to make the final call.

But replay is still somewhat new to baseball and its umpires. It’s reasonable to expect the whole process to improve and become faster and more efficient in the seasons to come.

Baseball games aren’t any longer than football games

There are fair criticisms being made. But are all of them fair? The average NFL game is about three hours. Football is the most popular sport in America, but you don’t hear any complaints about its game length.

Baseball is different in that it contains more action (ball in play) than a football game, though you might be inclined to guess the opposite. According to a Wall Street Journal study, there are about seven more minutes of action in a baseball game than there is in a football game. But due to commercials, the broadcast times are more or less the same. So why the outrage over baseball but not football?

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The Chicago Cubs had their fair share of brutally long games in 2017. In fact, the average time to play across the league increased from 2016. But consider this: if a game is taking significantly longer than usual, there’s a good chance it’s an entertaining game.

Extra innings are fun. Longer baseball games, at least for some, aren’t always necessarily a bad thing. Baseball is arguably the most cerebral of all the major sports. Every player on the field has to have strong sense of situational awareness. And that’s what a lot of baseball’s biggest supporters enjoy most.

My only hope is that the Players Union and the league don’t go too far in their efforts to improve pace-of-play. I’m on board with seeing quicker games, but not if takes major structural changes to the game to get there.

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