What has happened to the game of baseball lately? The games are getting longer and parent’s patience are getting shorter. Why do the youth games take so much longer to play? Why are games lasting well over 2 1/2 hours for a 7 inning game? Are the strike zones suddenly smaller so there are more pitches? Are players trying to imitate the pre-pitch antics of the Mike “Human Rain Delay” Hargrove, or Nomar or David Ortiz? Are the pitchers that much slower in between pitches? Are they not throwing strikes? Whatever happened to hustling on and off the field in between innings? Nowadays players waltz out to their positions.

I had to give up coaching baseball after 20 years because I wasn’t getting home until 7:15 after a 4:00 start. Thus I was missing my kids’ games. I remember getting home by 6:00 on a regular basis. We had many games that were over by 5:30? Why the gradual slowdown of the game? What is happening out there?

MLB is also experiencing longer games. This may be more to time in between innings to maximize the ad revenue. However, teams are more deliberate in changing pitchers, having mound discussions, and taking their sweet time in between pitches. The effect is with a 7:30 start time, games are lasting until 10:30-11:00. This makes it hard for families to attend a weeknight game.
When was the last time you saw the conclusion of a World Series Game?

Big question: What can be done to speed up the game? Of course, we need to figure out why the games at all levels are taking longer.