MLB executive: 'Games should be seven innings'

Major League Baseball games have an average of 18 minutes of action. (Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

Major League Baseball is having trouble attracting young fans and teams are struggling with injuries, says one "high-ranking [MLB] executive."

While these issues aren't related, he believes there's a way to remedy both — shorten the games.

"I think they ought to change the games to seven innings," the anonymous source told ESPN's Buster Olney, who added that seven-inning games would finish "closer to two-and-a-half hours than three hours or longer."

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Last year, a Wall Street Journal study found that an average baseball game contains about 18 minutes of action over the course of three hours.

The executive believes games are played too slowly, and the younger generation is turning away from baseball because of it.

He also believes teams are struggling to find quality pitching due to specialization and because the number of injuries is skyrocketing.

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