sabermetric analysis of game length

Baseball Research Journal, fall 2018, volume 47, #2, page 64

David W. Smith concludes the main culprit is number of pitches, mainly due to the rise in strikeouts and decline on balls in play.

I confess I was hoping it was mound visits and conferences, as that can be fixed. College softball, for example, has put in a "no-huddle" rule and baseball is going to limit mound visits.

I am not sure how to fix the pitch count, which is due to the "strikeout or homerun" approach. A minor inprovement would be to have foul balls count as strike three.

Perhaps baseball could eliminate the pitcher’s mound or limit pitcher substitutions. I suppose at a more radical level you could elimate a fielder or enlarge the field.

Frankly I am starting to find softball more enjoyable than baseball. The "strikeout or home run," all or nothing mentality is boring in person. It is ok on television, because all you can see is pitcher v. batter anyway.

But in the ball park what is entertaining is the ball in play. Fielders at work, runners on the base paths.

If you read the old Massachusetts rules, the batter stood halfway between home and first, which produced lots of base runners and incidentally eliminated the need for batters to move when there was a play at the plate.