MLB The Show 16 News Post

MLB, Just Like The Show, Concerned About Time It Takes to Finish A Game

04:31 PM - May 17, 2016 by RaychelSnr

Last year, the creators of MLB The Show went all in on making sure you could finish a game of The Show in a reasonable amount of time. The results since then have been a streamlined experience with the ability to play through games at a pretty fast pace.

The folks at Major League Baseball are similarly concerned with the pace of play, as games this year are taking about four minutes longer on average than they were last year.

Quote:


	"Baseball games are getting longer this season, though. According to ESPN, the length of average MLB game in 2016 has stretched three hours and 26 seconds. That doesn't sound like a huge increase, but when you add four minutes to 2,430 games a year in the regular season, *it adds up to an additional 6.83 days* worth of baseball**. If you watch all 162 games of a given team, a four-minute increase per game adds up to 10.8 hours over the course of a season."

The pace of play in baseball is something which is always an interesting debate. Pitch clocks have been instituted in the minor leagues with great results at shortening the game.

Another change the MLB may look at include limiting the amount of mound visits which can be made during the course of a game.

The latter two proposals both could have big impacts on how you play The Show in the future. What do you think? Does baseball need to change the rules to speed up to the pace of play?

Game: MLB The Show 16Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4Votes for game: 23 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 DukesofHazzard @ 05/17/16 04:40 PM

Yeah but for a true baseball fan (like me) and sports fan in general the longer a game lasts for me the better. I don't want games to end.

# 2 Airfaron23 @ 05/17/16 04:40 PM

Let's see some quick pitching in real life!
... Sorry I couldn't resist

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

# 3 Bullit @ 05/17/16 04:47 PM

In my opinion, I wish they would just leave it alone (both MLB and Thein the Show) I don't watch or play a game of baseball because I'm in a hurry. When I'm at the park with a cold beer, hot dog and a score book, I have NEVER thought "this game is just taking too long"

I am the same way with The Show. I never jump scenes, fast forward thru innings. I just want to relax and enjoy a game of baseball. I even just put the controller down at times just so the idle animations will play.

There is enough, hurry up, instant gratification and self entitlement in the world today. Leave it out of Baseball.

# 4 bcruise @ 05/17/16 04:49 PM

Maybe don't spend 10 minutes trying to figure out multiple replay challenges? Call it inconclusive, call stands after 3 or so if there's no clear resolution.

# 5 SportsGameGod @ 05/17/16 04:53 PM

There is a middle ground of what major sports leagues should do to make fans happy. NBA isn't doing enough with adding those bull**** ads to the jerseys which makes me want to stop watching forever.

MLB needs to not worry about the length of a game. Whatever amount of time a game takes is just fine. People need to stop complaining. Quit tinkering with everything.

# 6 tril @ 05/17/16 05:16 PM

I dont remember the last time I watched an entire regular season baseball game.
Baseball is one of those few sports that stats can tell the entire story of a game. looking at box scores, expanded stats, and reading recaps is enough.

when it comes to the show 29 game seasons is enough for me. plus the in game save come in handy.

it would be cool if they had a mercy rule fro when games got out of hand

# 7 HenryClay1844 @ 05/17/16 05:22 PM

After switching to watching soccer where the commercials come only at the half (and of course on the kits) I can't watch any other sport on TV. Can watch Hockey on the the net without the ads, but will never watch a baseball game again. It's the interruptions more than the length of the game. Being able to save a MLB the show game during season mode was cool, but the game is too long for someone with a passing interest.

# 8 canes21 @ 05/17/16 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HenryClay1844


	After switching to watching soccer where the commercials come only at the half (and of course on the kits) I can't watch any other sport on TV. Can watch Hockey on the the net without the ads, but will never watch a baseball game again. It's the interruptions more than the length of the game. Being able to save a MLB the show game during season mode was cool, but the game is too long for someone with a passing interest.

You go through whole half innings without commercials unless you have an injury or change in the pitcher, though? Do you want to go 4.5 innings before commercials, then 4.5 more?

# 9 Ghost Of The Year @ 05/17/16 05:31 PM

MLB wants it's cake, and to eat it too.
On the one hand, they like to tout that, unlike basketball & football, there is no clock.
Then in the next breath, they complain the clock is too long.
Something tells me TV is driving the push to reduce game lengths, when truth be told, baseball just isn't as much of a TV sport as basketball & football. The sooner MLB faces that fact, the better off they'll be.

# 10 Smallville102001 @ 05/17/16 05:54 PM

Baseball is just a long game that is just how the sport is. Out of the 4 major sports baseball and NFL are both about 3 hours to watch on TV and about 30 minutes longer then NBA and NHL. Really the only thing that could make the game faster and it would only be a few minutes would be if teams didn't use left pitchers to face left hitter and then take pitcher out after just 1 batter type of thing. So really there is no way to make the game faster. Also baseball doesn't have a clock like the other sports and with any sport take away breaks and the game would be a lot faster. When I record a NBA game and can skip half time and breaks a 2.5 hour game is about a hour and 50 minutes and about the same for hockey. NFL goes from about 3 to about 2 hours and 15 when I can skip stuff and MLB goes from about 3 to about 2 hours and 30 minutes or so.

# 11 redsox4evur @ 05/17/16 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smallville102001


	Baseball is just a long game that is just how the sport is. Out of the 4 major sports baseball and NFL are both about 3 hours to watch on TV and about 30 minutes longer then NBA and NHL. Really the only thing that could make the game faster and it would only be a few minutes would be if teams didn't use left pitchers to face left hitter and then take pitcher out after just 1 batter type of thing. So really there is no way to make the game faster. Also baseball doesn't have a clock like the other sports and with any sport take away breaks and the game would be a lot faster. When I record a NBA game and can skip half time and breaks a 2.5 hour game is about a hour and 50 minutes and about the same for hockey. NFL goes from about 3 to about 2 hours and 15 when I can skip stuff and MLB goes from about 3 to about 2 hours and 30 minutes or so.

Except they added a pitch clock to the minors last year. That could make the game go faster.

# 12 Smallville102001 @ 05/17/16 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redsox4evur


	Except they added a pitch clock to the minors last year. That could make the game go faster.

How long is the pitch clock? and really most the time it doesn't take a pitcher that long to make a pitch any way.

# 13 redsox4evur @ 05/17/16 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smallville102001


	How long is the pitch clock? and really most the time it doesn't take a pitcher that long to make a pitch any way.

20 seconds.

Edit: Triple-A and Double-A leagues, the highest levels of the minors, used 20-second pitch clocks and started penalizing violators with balls and strikes. At Triple-A, the International League average dropped 16 minutes to 2:40 and the Pacific Coast League fell 13 minutes to 2:45.

# 14 Ghost Of The Year @ 05/17/16 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	Pitch clocks have been instituted in the minor leagues with great results at shortening the game. Another change the MLB may look at include limiting the amount of mound visits which can be made during the course of a game. The latter two proposals both could have big impacts on how you play The Show in the future. What do you think?

I think mound visits IRL & Pitch Clocks in the minors will have as much an impact on the Show
as real life rainouts, rosin bags, television commercials & filling out lineup cards wrong IRL impact the Show.

# 15 Juzbee @ 05/17/16 06:11 PM

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned what has made the games become so much longer to begin with: MONEY. There is just SO much money involved, that we now have bullpen pitchers who pitch to one batter and are out, because each game is generating such a large amount of dollars. Likewise, starters are taken out of games because teams have to protect their investments. Back when big league players were making "normal" salaries, the teams would work them like horses. Now every possible precaution is taken. It would be nice to say that teams "care" more about the players now, but it's all just about the money.

# 16 Ghost Of The Year @ 05/17/16 06:29 PM

I'm not quoting verbatim, but:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	Baseball games are getting longer this season...According to ESPN...average length of MLB games have increased by 4 minutes from 2015 to 2016...yada yada ...it adds up to 10.8 hours more for the fan who watches all 162 games of a teams season....blah blah blah

I seriously doubt there is any fan out there, when he realises he's watched 486 hours of his teams season, wishes he had only watched 476 hours instead, & saved that 10.8 hours on something more meaningful, like playing the Show, or posting on OS lmgdao

# 17 RLB @ 05/17/16 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost Of The Year


	I'm not quoting verbatim, but: I seriously doubt there is any fan out there, when he realises he's watched 486 hours of his teams season, wishes he had only watched 476 hours instead, & saved that 10.8 hours on something more meaningful, like playing the Show, or posting on OS lmgdao

Let's see.....10.8 hours x 4 beers per hour x $8.00 per beer........that would save me about $345 per year.

# 18 Ghost Of The Year @ 05/17/16 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLB


	Let's see.....10.8 hours x 4 beers per hour x $8.00 per beer........that would save me about $345 per year.

That would save me, oh... about... $0 per year.
There are three times that are perfect for drinking a beer:
1) Before a game
2) During a game
3) After a game

# 19 WhiteBunny @ 05/17/16 06:55 PM

Well, i'm a big soccer fan. It's my first love and i follow the whole season of my beloved team ( F.C. Inter ). In my country - Italy - nobody play or watch baseball. Nobody knows a thing about baseball. It's like talking about aliens or weird stuff nobody cares.
I'm a baseball fan since three years now. Strangely enough, i enjoy a lot the fact that i can take my time while watching a game: washing dishes, cooking and stuff like this. It's so relaxing. It's my three hours zen moment. I'm not concerned at all about the peace of play, maybe because i'm an outsider.
So here it's what i feel. Soccer isn't so popular in US because it isn't a very profitable sport commercial wise: there's not enough space and time to fill a game with ads and sponsor. There's one big break once a game and that's it. In baseball you get 14-15 breaks which you can fill with a lot of spots, sponsor and ads. That's a lot of money. And while they are concerned about time, they don't want to lose money. It makes perfect sense but maybe it's one of the reason why a game takes so long.

# 20 brushbackpitch @ 05/17/16 07:52 PM

Leave the game alone! It's pure in its truest form. Because people today don't have the attention span to truly watch and understand the game doesn't mean it needs to be changed. It means that it will have a different, breed of fan.

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