Is baseball’s slow pace actually its greatest strength in a world where everything else moves too fast?
January 6, 2026
Is baseball’s slow pace actually its greatest strength in a world where everything else moves too fast?
26 comments
hell yeah man
Pass that doobie over here my guy
As much as I like hockey and basketball’s fast continuous pace, I also really enjoy the building tension and sudden release of watching baseball.
I really hope this doesn’t get deleted when the Mods wake up.
Yes and AM Radio is the best format to listen to the game
It was
Yes. Unfortunately baseball is being forced by our fast paced low attention span society to speed up too. The pitch clock was probably a good idea, but I don’t think MLB is going to stop making new rules to speed games up.
Yes.
Yes
Baseball is the only professional team sport that doesn’t have a game clock.
Therefore, baseball is timeless.
My favorite part of baseball is the finality at the end. There’s no dicking around waiting for the clock to run out.
its the games within the game that does it for me. the dual between the batter and pitcher is almost separate from whatever else is going on…when there’s a guy on second fucking around getting in the pitchers head, causing a walk or stealing a base (im looking at you Josh Naylor) or the other multitude of things going on within the game that are sort of isolated from the game at hand, it makes it so intricate and enjoyable that you can see the players trying to outsmart, our pitch, put think each other all while the pace of the game moves along side those interactions.
that and just how anything can happen at any time. in other sports, someone might steal the ball, or make a legendary run, or whatever else, but in baseball, you might see a wacky triple play, or some kind of event that no ones ever seen before, and we had a few of those in 2025. plays that the umpires dont even know what to do with, or once in a lifetime situations that arise. ive never seen that in any other sport.
This very reason is why I was initially opposed to the pitch clock. I’m glad I was proven wrong, but I still wouldn’t mind extra time for the playoffs
Its perfect for summertime.
I love baseball and it’s slower pace but it’s three hours long. Like that’s short really. Even gigs are longer
“this is how the sport of baseball moves: not at all, and then, all at once, with such terrifying speed the lines begin to bend, and then not at all.”
lol two years ago the pace was going to be the death of the sport
This brought to mind a great Star Trek quote (Next Generation season 3 episode 1):
Dr. Paul Stubbs: [talking to Wesley Crusher about baseball] Once, centuries ago, it was the beloved national pastime of the Americas, Wesley. Abandoned by a society that prized fast food and faster games. Lost to impatience.
I love how long the season is. I can have the game playing on my phone, I can choose the radio or tv broadcast, for hours, every day, for many months. It covers all of spring, all of summer, and nearly makes it to winter.
Brother if you think baseball is slow, you need to watch some test cricket. You’ll be entertainingly bored.
Nothing says summer Christmas like some old dude on TV whittering away about ducks in the field while the players are gone for their eighth tea of the day.
Haruki Murakami said he loves baseball “because it’s boring,”
We live in the generation of the second screen. Baseball is the perfect sport to put on while you are also doing something else. You know more or less when something exciting is going to happen, and you know exactly which part of the game your team might score. I’m all for sitting and watching a full game, but I also like that over a 162 game season, I can have some games on while also washing dishes or doing some work, and knowing when I can do that stuff and when I should be paying attention to the game.
Baseball isn’t a slow sport, it is a sudden sport.
Yes.
Speeding up baseball will kill it. Its charm is its slow pace. And it’s strangely adaptable to today’s ADD world where we’re always on our phones. It’s meant to be watched in the background.
I actually really got back into baseball since ironically the pitch clock because to me baseball was almost too slow.
Now it’s like the perfect level of suspense to action.
I read an article about 30 years ago now (and I wish I could find it again) about how neither soccer nor baseball could be invented today and work. Low scoring, reasonable pace, heavy strategy that may not work, and just a “day at the park”.
The pace does help in that it allows you to both enjoy the game, and the company of people that you’re with. It’s not just engaging on the field, but with the environment and company around you.
26 comments
hell yeah man
Pass that doobie over here my guy
As much as I like hockey and basketball’s fast continuous pace, I also really enjoy the building tension and sudden release of watching baseball.
I really hope this doesn’t get deleted when the Mods wake up.
Yes and AM Radio is the best format to listen to the game
It was
Yes. Unfortunately baseball is being forced by our fast paced low attention span society to speed up too. The pitch clock was probably a good idea, but I don’t think MLB is going to stop making new rules to speed games up.
Yes.
Yes
Baseball is the only professional team sport that doesn’t have a game clock.
Therefore, baseball is timeless.
My favorite part of baseball is the finality at the end. There’s no dicking around waiting for the clock to run out.
its the games within the game that does it for me. the dual between the batter and pitcher is almost separate from whatever else is going on…when there’s a guy on second fucking around getting in the pitchers head, causing a walk or stealing a base (im looking at you Josh Naylor) or the other multitude of things going on within the game that are sort of isolated from the game at hand, it makes it so intricate and enjoyable that you can see the players trying to outsmart, our pitch, put think each other all while the pace of the game moves along side those interactions.
that and just how anything can happen at any time. in other sports, someone might steal the ball, or make a legendary run, or whatever else, but in baseball, you might see a wacky triple play, or some kind of event that no ones ever seen before, and we had a few of those in 2025. plays that the umpires dont even know what to do with, or once in a lifetime situations that arise. ive never seen that in any other sport.
This very reason is why I was initially opposed to the pitch clock. I’m glad I was proven wrong, but I still wouldn’t mind extra time for the playoffs
Its perfect for summertime.
I love baseball and it’s slower pace but it’s three hours long. Like that’s short really. Even gigs are longer
“this is how the sport of baseball moves: not at all, and then, all at once, with such terrifying speed the lines begin to bend, and then not at all.”
lol two years ago the pace was going to be the death of the sport
This brought to mind a great Star Trek quote (Next Generation season 3 episode 1):
Dr. Paul Stubbs: [talking to Wesley Crusher about baseball] Once, centuries ago, it was the beloved national pastime of the Americas, Wesley. Abandoned by a society that prized fast food and faster games. Lost to impatience.
I love how long the season is. I can have the game playing on my phone, I can choose the radio or tv broadcast, for hours, every day, for many months. It covers all of spring, all of summer, and nearly makes it to winter.
Brother if you think baseball is slow, you need to watch some test cricket. You’ll be entertainingly bored.
Nothing says summer Christmas like some old dude on TV whittering away about ducks in the field while the players are gone for their eighth tea of the day.
Haruki Murakami said he loves baseball “because it’s boring,”
We live in the generation of the second screen. Baseball is the perfect sport to put on while you are also doing something else. You know more or less when something exciting is going to happen, and you know exactly which part of the game your team might score. I’m all for sitting and watching a full game, but I also like that over a 162 game season, I can have some games on while also washing dishes or doing some work, and knowing when I can do that stuff and when I should be paying attention to the game.
Baseball isn’t a slow sport, it is a sudden sport.
Yes.
Speeding up baseball will kill it. Its charm is its slow pace. And it’s strangely adaptable to today’s ADD world where we’re always on our phones. It’s meant to be watched in the background.
I actually really got back into baseball since ironically the pitch clock because to me baseball was almost too slow.
Now it’s like the perfect level of suspense to action.
I read an article about 30 years ago now (and I wish I could find it again) about how neither soccer nor baseball could be invented today and work. Low scoring, reasonable pace, heavy strategy that may not work, and just a “day at the park”.
The pace does help in that it allows you to both enjoy the game, and the company of people that you’re with. It’s not just engaging on the field, but with the environment and company around you.