Lindholm: Does more time between pitches deliver better results?
From SABR member Scott Lindholm at Beyond the Box Score on August 25, 2014:
Last Thursday I was watching the Cubs play the Giants in the official game after they finished playing the suspended game. Due to a rain delay that pushed back the beginning of the suspended game by a couple of hours, the official game didn’t start until around 8:00 pm CDT, or about an hour after the scheduled start. Since the teams had been at Wrigley for most of the day as well as it being getaway day for the Giants, I thought maybe they’d be in a bit of a hurry to get the game played.
Cleanup hitter Pablo Sandoval came to the plate with one out and runners on first and second. He tapped his bat a couple of times, pulled on his wrist bands, adjusted his cap, adjusted, er, other parts of his uniform, cleaned his spikes, tapped his bat a couple more time and then determined he was ready to take a pitch. I pick on Sandoval, but it could be anybody — it seems like there’s more dead time between pitches.
This chart shows the increase in game length over time.
Read the full article here: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/8/25/6056749/baseball-pace-pitch-time
Originally published: August 25, 2014. Last Updated: August 25, 2014.