Pace of play in MLB games has been an ongoing topic of discussion between players and owners (and among media and fans) for several years now.
Let’s stipulate one thing right now, before I get into the meat of this article. We are not talking about the length of games (even though average game times have in fact been increasing). We are talking about the pace of the game and things that have nothing to do with actual play making games longer. Yes, the end result would (hopefully) be shorter games. But the point is to eliminate things that aren’t part of game action, or speed those things along, in order to have faster-paced games.