MLB inning breaks 3 minutes, 15 seconds during postseason

NEW YORK (AP) In the first year of Major League Baseball's countdown clocks, between-inning breaks were clearly longer during the postseason opener between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees.

The clock time was 3 minutes, 15 seconds Tuesday night for the AL wild-card game at Yankee Stadium, up from 2:25 for most regular-season games and 2:45 for nationally televised regular-season games. MLB said the break time was intended to be 2:55, as in previous postseasons, with the first pitch supposed to be thrown within the last 20 seconds of clock time.

MLB planned to make the breaks 2:45 for pitching changes and during extra innings.

In the first season of the newly emphasized pace rules, the average time of nine-inning games dropped by 6 minutes to 2:56.