Remarkably, the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians played the shortest Major League Baseball game in nearly 14 years last night.
Clocking in at a ridiculously-short one hour and 49 minutes, the matchup showcased a masterful performance from Boston’s right-handed pitcher, Tanner Houck.
The lightning-fast game played at Fenway Park was the shortest since a June 2, 2010, matchup between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.
That was of course the infamous Armando Galarraga debacle, where a horribly blown call cost him a perfect game.
What helped the pace last night was a masterful performance by the 27-year-old Houck.
He put on a pitching clinic, conceding only three hits while walking none across nine innings. All in all, he only threw 94 pitches.
Entering the night with an impressive 2.04 ERA and a 9.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his first three starts, Houck’s stellar performance comes at a crucial time for the Red Sox, who are facing the absence of key pitchers Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta, and Garrett Whitlock due to injuries.
Major League Baseball has made concerted efforts to reduce game length in recent years, introducing measures such as the pitch clock.
The average nine-inning game duration has steadily declined, with the 2023 season averaging two hours and 38 minutes.
Notably, a greater percentage of games have concluded in under two hours and 30 minutes this season, marking a significant improvement from previous years.
As quick as last night’s game was, it’s not nearly in the same ballpark as the shortest-ever MLB game on record.
That honor belongs to a Giants-Phillies game that was played at the Polo Grounds on September 28, 1919.
Shockingly, that game took only 51 MINUTES to complete.
Of course, the implementation of broadcast television and this whole commercial nonsense is why that mark will never come close to being eclipsed. (After all, I’m pretty sure each MLB game has 51 minutes of commercials alone.)
To take it a step further, the shortest professional baseball game ever played was a minor league matchup between the Asheville Tourists and the Winston-Salem Twins back in 1916.
Believe it or not, that game took just 31 minutes to complete (!!!)
What are your thoughts on the pace-of-play rules that Major League Baseball put into place?
Are you in favor of the rules, such as the pitch clock?
In a perfect world, how long SHOULD an MLB game take to play???