MLB’s ABS system could be one of the factors making games a “little longer this spring,” with the time of a nine-inning game creeping up four minutes from last year as of Saturday, according to David Brandt of the AP. The average nine-inning game time is currently 2 hours, 42 minutes, up from 2:38 last season and 2:36 in 2024. Though an ABS challenge usually takes less than 15 seconds, the mini delays in the game “can add up if several pitches are contested.” The ABS system might be making a “small dent in that progress, but game times are still considerable shorter than they were in the pre-pitch clock era.” A nine-inning game lasted an average of 3:10 in 2021 (AP, 4/13). THE ATHLETIC’s Jim Bowden wrote if ABS is the final determination of the strike zone, it should be used to “make every ball and strike call.” He added in talking to many in the industry, his “viewpoint is in the minority.” The consensus in the industry seems to be that the challenge system has “added great entertainment value for the fans” and it has become “such a huge hit that it will probably stay as a challenge system for the next several years, at least through the next CBA” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/13).
GET EVERYONE: SI’s Tom Verducci wrote good umpires are “getting their due (and it’s often the younger ones).” Erich Bacchus, who is working his fourth year as a full-time MLB umpire, called 466 pitches in his first three games behind the plate. Nine were challenged and only one challenge was successful. Will Little was off to a similarly impressive start: 501 called pitches over three games and only one overturned call on 10 challenges (SI, 4/13).
