MLB, MLBPA Redouble Efforts To Improve Pace Of Play

Baseball is charging ahead with efforts to speed up games, as MLB and the MLBPA today announced further enhancements to pace-of-play rules. Breaks in play between innings for the '16 season will be two minutes, five seconds for locally televised games and two minutes, 25 seconds for nationally televised ones. That is down from two minutes, 25 seconds and two minutes, 45 seconds, respectively, last year. The newly reduced times mirror breaks allotted to broadcasters between innings. Mound visits by managers and pitching coaches are now limited to 30 seconds and will be timed.

Other changes from last year, such as enhanced enforcement of batter's box rules and ballpark timers, will continue in '16. MLB last year reduced its average game time by more than six minutes from '14 to two hours, 56 minutes, largely due to the defined inning breaks.