Since Rob Manfred took over as Commissioner for Major League Baseball in 2015 one thing has been clear; he wants to speed up the pace of the average game. In these last two seasons alone, Major League baseball has had countless ideas brainstormed, tested on the minor league level, or implemented at the Major League level to reduce the time of each contest. In a sport in which there is no game clock, it is clear that Manfred and company would like to see game averages dwindle down closer to 2.5 hours on per game.
There in which lies the conundrum of the 2016 Chicago Cubs. If you haven’t heard yet, these guys have a little “swag” about them. Whether it be Coach Joe Maddon’s advice to Javier Baez when telling him that he would be working out in Center Field, being the Vegas odds on favorite to win the World Series, or Kris Bryant pranking a Junior College team during Spring Training, the Cubs have had a little different strut to them than the teams of Baseball’s past. There is no denying it. The Chicago Cubs are the most exciting team in Major League Baseball.
On the field, however, Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball officials must be taking note of the fact that baseball’s must-see-tv act for 2016 is reversing-course on one of MLB’s stated highest priorities in pace-of-play.
Going into Friday’s contest against the Colorado Rockies, games involving the Chicago Cubs had averaged roughly 3 hours and 20 minutes per contest this season. Last season, MLB was able to “shave” about 4 minutes off of the 3-hour mark which has arbitrarily become the benchmark number for the MLB to stay below consistently as they make strides towards the 2.5 hour mark.
So why are the Cubs games taking so much longer than the MLB average from 2015? The reason these games are taking longer than the rest of the league is simple, the Cubs take more pitches. A lot more. I mean a WHOLE lot more. How much? Well, the St. Louis Cardinals led all of Major League Baseball last season in pitches thrown per fangraphs at 23,255. Going into Friday, the Cubs were on pace to make opposing pitchers throw 27,115 pitches to them this season. That is just over 16% MORE pitches than ANY team threw last season. This is the beauty of baseball in that there is no clock. Think about that. Can you imagine the “Greatest show on Turf” St Louis Rams in the late 1990’s being able to have 16% more time on offense than the opposing teams? How about instead of 48 minutes, we give Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors an extra 7.5 minutes per game JUST to be on offense? How much fun would that be? It’s impossible in any sport, except for baseball.
Going into Friday the Cubs are doing exactly what you would expect with the added time offensively. They are scoring more runs. When it comes to batting average the Cubs are middle-ground and they are sitting back in 8th position when it comes to slugging percentage in the league. That isn’t normally a recipe to be leading the league in Runs Scored after 2 weeks. What the Chicago Cubs do better than any other team in baseball is wear down the pitching staff of their opponents and get on base(.384). This leads to opposing starters being pulled by the 5th or 6th inning at best, opposing relievers being used up and tired out early in a series, and the Cubs scoring the most runs in baseball.
Personally, if the Cubs continue at this rate, I will be interested in seeing how National League Central pitching staffs hold up health wise at the end of the year compared to around staffs around the league.
So what does the Major League Baseball Brass think about the Cubs averaging so much longer to get through 9 innings? Well, nothing so far. Other than the fact that the Cubs will likely soon host an All-Star Game, MLB hasn’t said anything about the organizations assault on the pace-of-play initiative. And frankly, is there really anything to be concerned about? Once the NBA playoffs conclude Major League Baseball has a virtual monopoly on live sport television until the NFL season starts. Having your most popular team and the odds on favorite averaging nearly an hour longer than an underwhelming Batman v Superman film can’t be bad when it comes for advertising.
So as the Cubs continue to treat opposing pitching staffs like Rocky did Ivan Drago in part 4, what has become exciting to Cubs fans everywhere has changed. The long ball be damned as I sit on pins and needles for a full-count walk in the top of the first. Yeap, there is no doubt about it. The Cubs are the most exciting, boring team in the history of Major League Baseball.
