Solution to Solving All of Baseball's Problems: Shorten the Games to 7 Innings

All of these new baseball rules are driving everybody crazy! The pitch clocks, the mound visit restrictions, the three-batter minimum, the hitters having to keep one foot in the box...ahhhh!

ENOUGH!

What if I told you I had a solution that would fix all of baseball's problems? What if I told you I had a solution that would fix all of baseball problems, all while appeasing both the old-fashion fans who don't want any changes and new millennials fans who have forgotten about baseball altogether?

Here we go. Are you ready?

Golden Solution: Shorten both the postseason and regular season games from nine innings to seven innings.

I can already hear Eugene and Elmer from the retirement home down the street cursing me out from their wheelchairs at this preposterous idea.

Let me break this down for you, Eugene.

Problem: 3 Hour-4 Minute Average Length of Game

According to Baseball Reference, the average length of an MLB baseball game last season was 3 hours, 4 minutes (four minutes shorter than in 2017). To some, that's progress. To most, sitting in the hot sun for 3 hours, 4 minutes is no different than sitting in the hot sun for 3 hours, 8 minutes.

Average Time of MLB Game: 3:04:00

Average Time of NBA Game: 2:14:39

Average Time of NFL Game: 3:12:00

Average Time of NHL Game: 2:20:00

Average Time of MLS Game: 1:49:00

Don't even try and argue, "Well, the NFL is the most popular sport in the country, and their games average more time than a baseball game." Stop it. Insanely fast, athletic humans tackling other insanely fast, athletic humans is simply more stimulating. A game of baseball is simply too long for an audience that desires fast-paced entertainment.

Solution in Detail: Shorten the Games to 7 Innings

It's pretty self-explanatory. There are no pitch clocks, no mound visit counting, and certainly no game-altering extra inning rules. Just make the regulation game of baseball seven innings long.

Let the coaches make as many changes as they want to. What does a manager do these days other than make a lineup? Even that responsibility is often altered by the organization's front-office. Allow the coaches to do their jobs.

Instead of adding contaminates to the natural state of the game, how about we just shorten it to: H20. No matter how you look at H20, it is still water; no additives, as natural and pure as can be.

The only difference: it's shorter.

Explanation: The More Rules We Add, The More Obscure the Game Becomes

Why do we play nine inning baseball games? Probably because some guy named Merle back in 1870 shouted out: "Hey I got an idea! Lets play nine innings today!" And it has stuck...for almost 150 years.

High school baseball teams have played seven inning games for as long as time, and there are absolutely no complaints. Rarely does a high school player, coach, umpire, or fan say, "Man, if we just had two more innings, we would have won." Nine innings is simply not necessary to decide a winner.

Ever the MLB has been telling us for quite some time now that nine innings are too long. According to MLB rules, a team has to gather 15 outs for it to be considered a regulation game during the case of a rain delay. Let me repeat that: 15 outs. That is just five innings of baseball (and you thought my seven inning game was condensed). While I do believe five innings is too short, I have yet to hear any player complain after a rain-shortened game about getting cheated out of a win because it had been shortened.

The way I see it is if you haven't proven to be the better team after seven innings, you weren't the better team on that day. Why is there a need for two extra innings? Seven is plenty long enough.

These time clocks and restrictions that are being implemented into the game of baseball will lead to minimal results in terms of shortening the game. Will it help? Sure. But at what cost?

If the pitch clock last year shortened baseball games by an average of four minutes, hypothetically, the league would need to add four more rules to shorten the game by 20 minutes (5 rules x 4 minutes = 20 minutes). Who knows what those added four rules could be?

By adding more rules and restrictions, the league is changing the game of baseball from its natural state. The game that it once was is now becoming more and more obscure. The more rules we add, the more fans we are losing.

Believe me, I know pitching changes take time and are excruciatingly boring. Nobody wants to watch Mark Melancon take 3 minutes to run in from the bullpen and get warmed up. What other sport takes that long to make a substitution? However, by the game being shortened to seven innings, each of the individual innings will intensify. By shortening the game, each runner in scoring position will be that much more important, each home run will be that much more exciting, and each diving play will bring that many more people up out of their seats and onto their feet.

Shortening the game will force teams to push the envelope at a faster pace.

Conclusion: Changing Water into H20

The recent news of NASA capturing the first photo of a black hole has me in a very science-nerd type of mood, so allow me to use a chemistry metaphor.

The game of baseball is water. By adding new rules and restrictions, this natural state of water is now being turned to contaminated water. With every new rule, we are adding a pesticide. Pretty soon, the water will no longer be clear at all; it will have been so altered that it will be too foggy to be able to see what it ever used to be. This water is no longer water.

Rather than adding contaminates to the natural state of the game, how about we shorten it to: H20. No matter how you look at H20, it is still water; no additives, as natural and pure as can be. The only difference: it's shorter.

These changes that are being made to the game are not making anybody happy. The old-timers are upset because they believe the game doesn't need to change at all, and they basically say, "to hell with all the millenials." On the other hand, the millenials refuse to watch a baseball game because it's too long and boring. And to be frank, the game is too long. These new rules aren't helping fix the problem, it is prolonging the inevitable.

Baseball needs the old-timers. Baseball also needs the millenials. How do we gain the love of both very distinct groups? Shorten the game by giving sports fans what they want without disrupting the beautiful, natural state of the game.

It's so dumb and simple, it just might work.