(New York) The average time for a nine-inning Major League Baseball game fell to two hours and 36 minutes this season, the second time since a dial was adopted to limit the time between pitches of a pitcher, making it the shortest in 40 years.
The average game time was four minutes faster than in 2023, and 28 minutes faster than in 2022. This is the fastest average game time since 2:35 in 1984.
The Major Leagues have subtracted two seconds from the time allowed for a pitcher to throw when a runner is on the trails, to establish it at 18 seconds at the dawn of the 2024 campaign. They also kept the time at 15 seconds when the trails are deserted.
Average playing time crossed the three-hour mark for the first time in 2016. It reached a record 3:10 in 2021, before the adoption of an electronic device called ‘PitchCom’ which helped bring back the match time at 3:04 in 2022.
Due to the grievances of the Players’ Association, the Major Leagues introduced a dial in 2023 which limited the time between two shots from a pitcher to 15 seconds when the paths were deserted, and 20 seconds when runners were on the diamond .
Average playing time has been similar month to month this season: 2:36 in April and June, 2:34 in May and 2:37 in July, August and September.
The average playing time has constantly increased in 2023: 2:37 in April, 2:38 in May, 2:39 in June, 2:41 in July and August and 2:44 in September.