Student Materials

Source: Mookie Betts batting for the Boston Red Sox during a game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 18, 2017, Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, Wikimedia Commons

By Victor A. Matheson
March 15, 2023

Baseball fans will see one of the biggest changes in the way the game is played in modern times as MLB is introducing a pitch clock for the 2023 season. In an effort to create a quicker pace of play, there will be a 30-second timer between batters. Between pitches, there will be a 15-second timer with the bases empty and a 20-second timer with runners on base. Since the mid-1970s, the average length of a nine-inning baseball game has risen from roughly two and a half hours to three hours and 10 minutes in 2021. Data from last season’s experience with these modifications in the minors, as well the early spring training games, suggest that the new pitch clock will reduce game times by about 25 minutes.

So, how does this make baseball games cheaper? Certainly MLB isn’t lowering its ticket prices this season. But, as any economics student will know, the true cost of a baseball game is not just the monetary cost for things like tickets and complementary goods like parking or “peanuts, popcorn, and Crackerjack”, but also includes the opportunity cost of people’s time. Making a game half an hour shorter reduces the opportunity cost of attending a game (or even watching a game on TV) by saving a person 30 minutes of their valuable time.

But doesn’t this mean that baseball fans will be paying the same ticket price for less entertainment? Well, MLB would argue that they aren’t reducing the number of innings or the number of at-bats, they are simply speeding them up. If people are watching games primarily for the baseball action, a faster pace of play doesn’t affect the amount of action a fan gets to watch. But, even if people go to games just to enjoy the atmosphere, economics would say the losses are pretty minimal due to the concept of diminishing marginal utility. As a person consumes more of a good, the amount of additional value they get from each additional unit fall. After already being at a game for two and a half hours, the additional utility of an extra 25 minutes of hanging around the ballpark is likely to be fairly low. Indeed, for some people the additional utility might even be negative, which is why fans often leave baseball games before the ninth inning.

So, faster games mean lower opportunity costs and very little lost entertainment value due to diminishing marginal utility. Bring on the pitch clock!

Image: ‘Mookie Betts hitting the ball’ by Keith Allison is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The Economics of Sports
Seventh Edition

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How MLB’s pitch clock reduces the cost of a baseball game