We’ve Encountered One Problem With MLB’s Pitch Clock
1. We’ve said it many, many times. We love the pitch clock. We can't get enough of the pitch clock. God bless the pitch clock.
Major League Baseball’s pitch clock has shaved about a half hour off games this season.
Average time of game the past five seasons:
2023: 2:38
2022: 3:03
2021: 3:10
2020: 3:07
2019: 3:05
The days of three-and-a-half-hour games are no more. The dead time during a game is gone, and action is way up. The pitch clock could not have worked out any better—except for one thing.
Since games are now shorter, that means teams have less time to sell beer at games.
This has caused the Brewers, Twins, Diamondbacks and Rangers to extend their beer sales. In the past, fans were not able to buy beer past the seventh inning. Those teams are now giving fans until the eighth inning to purchase beer.
Major League Baseball does not dictate when a team can stop selling beer. It's up to each individual team. Given that teams are losing money on beer sales now, you can bet your life's savings that by the All-Star break every single team will extend the deadline on beer sales.
While the pitch clock has been a gift, teams aren't going to let it mess with their bottom line.
2. “They gonna beat the Hawks. The Hawks stink. Bet it. Whatever you want. A billion dollars.” –TNT’s Charles Barkley before Atlanta’s 116–105 win against Miami on Tuesday night.
3. In yesterday’s Traina Thoughts, I told you about the Orioles’ new “Dong Bong”/”Homer Hose” celebration for home runs. The team is also using a “sprinkler” celebration now for extra-base hits.
4. The Phillies held $1 hot dog night Tuesday. The Phillies lost to the Marlins, 8–4, on $1 hot dog night. So this happened.
5. Late Tuesday afternoon, I posted this week’s installment of my SI Media Mailbag. In this edition, I answered your questions about the best studio shows, the NBC on NBA theme song, CBS's Masters coverage and much more. If you have any sports media questions you want answered next week, email me at Jimmy.Traina@si.com or hit me up on Twitter.
6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with New York Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand about the latest sports media news. Topics discussed during the podcast include:
- Pat McAfee’s broadcasting future on why he may opt out of his current deal with FanDuel
- Two factors that led to big ratings for the women’s NCAA tournament on ABC-ESPN
- Fallout from the WWE’s being sold to Endeavor
- Whether Charles Barkley will add another job to his schedule and team up with Gayle King
- The NBA’s television and streaming future
- Flex scheduling for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video
- Derek Jeter’s joining Fox
- The disturbing discourse on Twitter
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch SI Media with Jimmy Traina on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 76th birthday to the great David Letterman.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
