Average LCS game time up 12 minutes as scoring rises, overall postseason figure falls to 3:00

NEW YORK (AP) — The average time of a nine-inning game in the League Championship Series rose 12 minutes to 3:16 this year along with an increase in scoring, though the overall postseason figure has fallen by two minutes to 3:00 in the second year of the pitch clock.

The LCS average was 3:40 in 2021, then fell to 3:26 in the first season of the PitchCom electronic pitch-calling device and 3:04 last year when the pitch clock was instituted.

Runs per game in the LCS averaged 11.3, up from 8.8 in 2023 and 7.9 in 2022 and 9.9 in 2021.

The postseason average for nine-inning games through the LCS is down from 3:22 in 2022 and 3:37 in 2021. Scoring of 8.2 runs per game was 8.0 last year, 7.9 in 2022 and 8.7 in 2021.

Division Series games averaged 3:00, down from 3:06 last year, 3:22 in 2022 and 3:33 in 2021. The Wild Card Series averaged 2:44, falling from 2:50 last year, 3:19 in 2022 and 3:44 for the wild card games in 2021.

Last year’s postseason average finished at 3:02, down from 3:23 in 2022 and 3:37 in 2021. The World Series last year averaged 3:01, the fastest since 1996, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

This season’s regular-season average of 2:36 declined four minutes from 2023 and 28 minutes from 2022. It had not been this low since 1984’s 2:35.

MLB shortened the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to 18 ahead of the 2024 season while keeping it at 15 seconds without runners on base.

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