The one thing this thread hasn't discussed is how time of game data for MLB compares to other leagues. How much worse, or better, is MLB? This lack of comparison is understandable, as the data certainly isn't available in any sort of convenient form. But, as it happens, I've been tracking this data for all the main leagues for the past several seasons. Below are some results.
The data below is for the 2017 regular season (2017-18 in the case of the winter leagues). It is for all 9-inning games which lasted the normal regulation length (8½-9 innings, 51-54 outs). The figures are in minutes. The order the data is presented: mean, minimum, maximum, standard deviation, and lastly, the number of games in the sample. Leagues are ordered from longest mean time of game to shortest.
Code:
Lg Mean Min Max StDev n=
--------------------------------------
VWL* 208.0 148 281 27.2 214
DWL* 207.4 137 290 28.1 137
CPBL 205.8 147 318 28.0 215
KBO 196.5 129 290 24.1 654
MPL* 192.7 128 258 23.1 243
*** 188.1 127 266 22.5 771
CAA 187.4 117 334 27.9 257
MEX 185.4 103 278 24.2 714
MLB 185.2 125 273 20.9 2247
RCL* 182.0 139 236 24.9 22
NWL 177.4 125 238 19.9 274
ABL* 176.8 111 239 24.8 88
ALPB 175.7 127 310 21.6 436
PIO 175.4 129 258 24.2 277
PCL 173.4 121 252 20.0 954
CAL 173.2 116 278 19.4 502
AAIB 171.2 112 243 19.7 487
APP 169.8 99 239 21.2 272
NYP 169.0 122 243 19.9 406
CAR 168.9 115 254 20.1 534
MID 168.8 107 229 20.1 926
INT 167.9 118 233 18.8 794
FRON 166.4 110 298 24.2 463
TEX 165.6 112 230 17.9 479
SAL 165.4 107 233 19.8 760
SOU 165.0 117 240 18.9 547
EAS 161.8 114 283 18.9 637
FSL 157.7 109 220 18.9 635
AFL* 155.6 116 209 16.9 83
*winter league
MLB places eighth on the list. The Venezuelan Winter League tops the chart for average time of game for a 9-inning games at 208 minutes; Arizona Fall League games the quickest, taking just 155.6 minutes on average.
For those interested, below is a further breakdown of MLB and *** games.
Code:
MLB
Mean Min Max StDev n=
--------------------------------------------------
AL games only: 187.4 133 273 21.1 990
NL games only: 183.4 125 262 20.4 980
--------------------------------------------------
all interleague: 183.5 135 242 21.1 277
NL at AL: 184.7 135 242 21.1 138
AL at NL: 182.4 136 228 21.2 139
***
Mean Min Max StDev n=
--------------------------------------------------
CL games only: 186.1 134 259 21.7 330
PL games only: 190.0 130 266 22.9 344
all interleague: 187.7 127 260 23.0 97
AL-only games averaged 4 minutes longer than NL games; even in interleague contests there was a difference. Interleague games played at AL parks took 2.3 minutes longer on average than interleague games played at NL parks.
*** games exhibited a similar split in time of game results between the leagues, with PL games taking nearly four minutes longer on average than CL games.
It's interesting to note that both the AL and PL use the designated hitter whereas the NL and CL do not.