The LMB returns to the traditional nine-inning format

Juan Manuel Vazquez

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday April 19, 2023, p. a12

If at the beginning of last season, the Mexican Baseball League (LMB) sparked controversy for cutting Tuesday and Wednesday games to seven innings, it has now announced that it will return to the traditional nine-inning format.

The reason, he argues, is that with the application of the new rules and the clock of pitching, it was possible to reduce about 45 minutes compared to the average time of the matches in 2022. Last year it was 3:28 hours; in the 2023 preseason of 2:43.

The head of umpires of the LMB, Luis Ramírez, considers that the application of the new rules had results, since they not only shortened the wasted time, but also made the games more dynamic and entertaining.

everyone wins

Everybody wins, because even the pitchers say that it helps to not give the hitter so much time to think and the games became more spectacular; In addition, due to the duration they can be broadcast on television and are attractive to the fan.

The project, as explained at the time by the president of the LMB, Horacio de la Vega, had the purpose of making the duels more striking for their television broadcast and for attendance at the stadiums.

The reaction of the traditional fans was that they considered it an attack against the spirit of baseball. De la Vega insisted at the time that it would be a test to attract new broadcast channels and followers.

“This reduction in Tuesday and Wednesday games from nine to seven innings was a positive during the 2022 season; however, the data in the 2023 preseason, the rigorous application of the game timers regulations – whose main purpose is that the pitchers they cannot exceed 12 seconds between receiving the ball and starting their movement for the next pitch without people on base– it is that the LMB makes the determination to return all its games to nine innings; with the exception of rescheduled doubleheaders due to game suspensions and postponements,” he explained in a statement.

The LMB umpire chief adds that this trend was also seen in the inclusion of the clock for pitches in the Major Leagues, which has already been used in Mexico since the playoffs past.