The Pittsburgh Pirates swept their doubleheader against the Washington Nationals and currently hold the best record in the National League. That’s very different from what was predicted. Tuesday morning on 93.7 The Fan, The Fan Morning Show producer Adam Crowley expressed a desire for more scheduled doubleheaders, specifically on weekends, so fans can enjoy a long day at the ballpark watching their favorite team.
“First pitch [at] 1:00, and the way that the games move now quickly, you get a little bit of a break before the second game [starts] at 6,” Crowley said. “I like the traditional doubleheaders, but I’d love to see MLB schedule a couple of these a season. You go, you buy your ticket, you stay there all day.”
Doubleheaders are generally a topic of disdain with many around the game of baseball since they are rarely what is scheduled. Yet with a litany of wet weather in the Northeast over the last week, many of them have been played already this season. This past weekend alone, three doubleheaders were played in Detroit, Washington, D.C., and New York, respectively. Going into the 2023 season, just two split doubleheaders were included in the schedule.
Three weeks into the regular season, Major League Baseball’s average time of a nine-inning game clocks in at 2 hours and 37 minutes, a 27-minute decrease from last season. Additionally, the league did away with seven-inning doubleheaders, instituted during the pandemic-stricken 60-game regular season. Extra innings still begin with an automatic runner on second base in an effort to hasten play.
Despite the initial schedule containing few doubleheaders, Crowley is encouraging Major League Baseball to consider implementing them into its planning for seasons ahead rather than utilizing them to make up for rainouts. In large part, this can be attributed to the league’s success in expediting the pace of play, most notably through the pitch clock, and infusing the sport with more offensive because of limited defensive shifts and enlarged bases.
“I love scheduled doubleheaders,” Crowley said. “I’m rooting for more of these.”
