Slowest teams in baseball

[fringe]

This was an article about a Red Sox coach getting tossed for arguing that his batter should be allowed to re- rub his bat with pine tar or something:

 

the Sox and Yankees have run either 1-2 or 2-1 in average time-of-game in each of the last five years, with last year's Yankees pulling in at a positively glacial 3:12. Worse, when the two sides have gotten together, species have become extinct. Over the last five years and the start of this one, the two teams have met 113 times, including 14 postseason games, and for various reasons, only 20 of those (and only three of the last 42) have come in under three hours. Overall, the average for those 113 has been 3:21, and for the regular-season games (postseason games always run longer because of added commercials) 3:18.

Oddly, Joe Torre's departure to Los Angeles has dropped the Yankees' game times by eight minutes while raising the Dodgers' by eight minutes. Coincidental? Yes. Does it look funny? Hey, we're talking about game times, and we can use every cheap laugh we can get.

Weirder still, the Red Sox have fallen to third in the latest check of industry time-wasting, behind the Mets and Brewers.

But the Red Sox do know that they are prime offenders according to Time Clock Bud, as Magadan freely admitted.

"I'm sure we're probably the worst in terms of time," he said, obviously having failed to total up those Mets and Brewers games in his spare time. "But there are a lot of factors ... a lot of televised games, we score runs, we grind out at-bats. I mean, I don't mind an extra 10 or 15 minutes if we're going to score more runs. I like being at the park, so I don't mind if it's 3:10 or 3:20."

Particularly given the fact that the last two Red Sox games have gone 2:29 and 2:17, and they've lost both of them.

 

I always thought Red Sox- Yankees games lasted forever, I just figured it was typical AL.

 

[LorfTVP]

This was an article about a Red Sox coach getting tossed for arguing that his batter should be allowed to re- rub his bat with pine tar or something:

 

 

 

I always thought Red Sox- Yankees games lasted forever, I just figured it was typical AL.

 

 

This has always sort of been a no-brainer. Both the Sox and the Yankees were among the first teams who learned how to take walks effectively. Why the A's never had long games, I dunno, probably the lack of any impact hitters to continue the inning. I looked for team P/PA but couldn't find any. But yah, I've watched PLENTY, and let me stress that, PLENTY, of lengthy Sox-Yankees games and I'll readily attribute it to the way these teams take pitches and take walks. For the Red Sox, at least, add to that the new speed element and it adds a decent amount of time whenever Ellsbury or Crisp reaches 1st base.

[fringe]

you would think NL games would always be longer with more frequent pitching changes but you're right, the yankees and sox do run the counts high. i wonder if the average number of pitches per game is consistently higher.

[Ditto]

It's a money thing, IMO, and it probably comes down from the sponsors. They also sell more beer and eats.

[fringe]

that doesnt jive, ditto- i think all games have the same time allowance between innings, pitching changes, etc. unless they allow the yankees extra time for thong adjustments..... :evilgrin:

[LorfTVP]

The two teams inflating the average are, no surprise, the Boston Red Sox (3:06) and New York Yankees (3:03). They are both patient teams that draw plenty of walks, yes, but they also appear more on nationally televised games than any other team, and those games come with 2-minute, 25-second commercials between innings instead of the standard 2-minute, 5-second variety. That’s six minutes a game in pure capitalism.

[fringe]

i did not know that. that explains some of it.

[gateb]

This has always sort of been a no-brainer. Both the Sox and the Yankees were among the first teams who learned how to take walks effectively. Why the A's never had long games, I dunno, probably the lack of any impact hitters to continue the inning. I looked for team P/PA but couldn't find any. But yah, I've watched PLENTY, and let me stress that, PLENTY, of lengthy Sox-Yankees games and I'll readily attribute it to the way these teams take pitches and take walks. For the Red Sox, at least, add to that the new speed element and it adds a decent amount of time whenever Ellsbury or Crisp reaches 1st base.

Probably the efficiency of their pitching.

[LorfTVP]

Probably the efficiency of their pitching.

 

Ahh, true. It's a two sided game. Combined with the inefficiency of their offense though.

[fringe]

Ahh, true. It's a two sided game. Combined with the inefficiency of their offense though.

also the A's don't have little annoyances (like fans) at their games.