Average game time in 13 games leading up to the CWS championship series has been 3 hours 30 minutesGETTY IMAGES
Trends in college baseball "often trickle down" from MLB, and one that "perplexes college baseball officials as much as those in the majors: Games that go on, and on, and on," according to Pat Borzi of the N.Y. TIMES. The 13 games leading up to the championship series in this year's College World Series "averaged 3 hours 30 minutes, a 25-minute increase over where it was just two years ago." If that average holds, it will be the "second-longest in the event’s history, trailing only the record average of 3:38" set in '09. Only two of the tournament’s first 13 games "finished in less than three hours, and six took at least three and a half." NCAA Assistant Dir of Championships & Alliances Ben Brownlee said, "When it’s almost four and a half hours for a regular nine-inning game that isn’t all that fluky, then there needs to be something to try to address those issues.” Brownlee said that the ideal length is "about three hours." Regular-season games "averaged 2:59 this season." But once it "turned to the postseason, many games dragged well beyond that." NCAA officials two years ago "were encouraged" when CWS games "averaged a manageable 3:05, the swiftest in four years, but it didn’t last." Some of the issues are "similar to the majors: Pitchers who work too slowly; multiple pitching changes per inning; and too many meetings on the mound." Brownlee said that the Big 12 "experimented with a 15-second countdown clock between pitches with no one on base this season and saw a 13-minute reduction in average game times, to 3:04 from 3:17" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/26).
