Yesterday, the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays finished off their three-game series, with the Rays winning 2-1 and sweeping St. Louis.
Needless to say, it was a pitcher’s duel.
For the Rays, lefty Shane McClanahan went eight innings, striking out nine and allowing just one unearned run and only two hits.
For the Cardinals, Miles Mikolas matched McClanahan pitch for pitch, throwing eight innings of two-run ball while striking out nine of his own and allowing just three hits.
In fact, according to MLB insider Dan Lindblad, the series finale between the Cards and Rays lasted just one hour and 54 minutes, which is exactly what MLB wants.
The Rays and Cardinals just played a full baseball game in 1 hour and 54 minutes.
— Dan Lindblad (@DanLindbladTV) June 9, 2022
Nice And Quick
For the longest time, MLB has been trying to find ways to speed up the game.
Yesterday’s game between St. Louis and Tampa Bay was the ideal game for the baseball higher ups.
The game was an epic pitcher’s duel and there was only one pitching change in the entire game.
That happened when Jason Adam came into the ballgame in the top of the ninth after McClanahan’s eight strong frames, shutting down the Redbirds and completing the sweep.
It seems that they key to having a quick game like we had yesterday in St. Petersburg is for there to be a pitcher’s duel, with limited mound visits and pitching changes.
So much of the game hinges on the use of analytics these days, but those analytics will tell you that pitchers shouldn’t go through a lineup more than twice.
A nice, old school pitcher’s duel will do if baseball wants to make the game go quicker, not a game where analytics drive manager’s decisions.
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