Major League Baseball made some rule changes last season, as emergency measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. Among them, doubleheader games were shortened to seven innings apiece, and a free runner was placed on second base in extra innings, both designed to shorten the amount of time spent on the field.
Those two rules have continued into 2021, but the league doesn’t plan to make them permanent.
“I don’t think seven-inning doubleheaders are going to be part of our future going forward,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, via Jeff Passan of ESPN.