The timeless sport.

This topic has been a great debate for some time now but it has really come to the forefront this past week after MLB umpire Joe West made comments about the Yankees and Red Sox playing extremely long games.

My friend Matt from New York State of Sports has an interesting article about time of games.

I won’t get into the umpires comments to much because I think it’s just ridiculous and wrong in so many ways. I will however talk about the game of baseball and why it’s fine the way it is.

Yes, some batters take more time between pitches and some pitchers take a while between throwing pitches. Baseball has the luxury of time. A game developed without a time clock. A sport in which every move can help determine the outcome, a very strategic game.

It’s easy for other sports to substitute players without using up much time. Basketball players all warm up prior to games, as do football players. You can not expect a relief pitcher to warm up prior to a game and be able to just walk in and pitch to a live batter.

Television has made it harder to control the length of games. Many players have even talked about this being the issue. Commercials take up a great amount time. But baseball will never do anything about that because that time equals large amounts of money. Without that money, players and team and league officials would not have salaries as large as they do.

If umpires or fans are in a hurry, go somewhere else, get a different job. Having no time limit is one of the great things about baseball. America’s Pastime is timeless.

Stop whining and let the games control themselves.