What is the longest baseball game ? Baseball is America’s pastime, but as attention spans get shorter and games get longer, the sport is searching for a solution. The average length of a nine-inning Major League Baseball game over the last 10 seasons is just over three hours. These climbing numbers inspired the minor leagues to implement a pitch clock last year. It’s the Major League’s turn now, and the pitch clock in MLB is already tightening game times.
What is the longest baseball game?
The answer depends – are you looking for the longest Major League game, which went on for 26 innings in 1920? Or are you looking for the longest professional baseball game, the one that finished after 33 innings in 1981?
Longest professional baseball game ever
The longest professional baseball game ever was in the minor leagues. The Pawtucket Red Sox played the Rochester Red Wings on April 18, 1981, in a 33-inning game that spanned two days.
After eight straight hours, the league president instructed umpires to suspend the game in the 32nd inning. It was 4 a.m., hours into Easter Sunday, and players were so cold they burned their broken bats in metal trash cans to stay warm, NPR reports.
The game – which included Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr. and Wade Boggs – picked up two months later on June 23 in the top of the 33rd. Pawtucket’s Dave Koza hit a single with the bases loaded and no outs and won the game.
Longest MLB game ever
The longest game in Major League history went on for a whopping 26 innings. The Brooklyn Robins vs. the Boston Braves game on May 1, 1920, took almost four hours. Today, we know the Robins by a different name – the Los Angeles Dodgers. Likewise, the Boston Braves are today’s Atlanta Braves.
After 26 innings, the score was tied 1-1, The New York Times reported in 1920. It was only called off because of how dark it was outside. According to the MLB, both starting pitchers – Leon Cadore for the Robins and Joe Oeschger for the Braves – pitched the entire length of the game.
The longest MLB game in terms of time was in 1984 between the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers. The 25-inning game ran for a total of eight hours and six minutes and was completed over two days. According to the MLB, the teams played the first 17 innings on May 8 but paused with a tied 3-3 because of an American League rule prohibiting new innings after 1 a.m.
The game resumed the next day and the White Sox won 7-6.
The longest continuous Major League game with a winner was a seven-hour play between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. The 1974 game ended after 25 innings at 3:13 a.m. According to the MLB, there were 13,460 fans in Shea Stadium when the game began, but by the time the Cardinals won 4-3, only an estimated 1,000 fans remained.
What is the longest postseason baseball game ever?
Game 3 of the 2018 World Series was the longest postseason game by time in Major League history. The Dodgers beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 in an 18-inning game that lasted seven hours and 20 minutes.
There have been three other 18-inning games in postseason history. The Houston Astros’ Game 3 win against the Seattle Mariners in the 2022 American League Division Series was a scoreless game until the 18th inning. Game 2 of the 2014 National League Division Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals lasted six hours and 23 minutes.
And the fourth – the Houston Astros vs. the Braves in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS – lasted 18 innings. The almost six-hour game ended in a win for the Astros, 7-6. Tim Hudson started both this game for the Braves and the 18-inning playoff game for the Giants in 2014.
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How long does an MLB game usually last? Average game length in 2023
The average MLB game in 2023 lasts 2 hours and 39 minutes. It’s a dramatic improvement from previous seasons when the average MLB game length extended beyond three hours. Credit for the reduced time goes to the league for introducing the pitch clock, eliminating downtime and finding ways to speed up games.
Longest baseball game this year
The longest baseball game in 2023 happened on September 16 between the Chicago Cubs vs Arizona Diamondbacks, lasting 4 hours and 22 minutes. Arizona won in the 13th inning on a walk-off RBI single by Gabriel Moreno, scoring Evan Longoria to end the game.
What is the longest MLB game ever?
1. Brooklyn Robins 1, Boston Braves 1 on May 1, 1920 – 26 innings
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the longest MLB game ever happened decades ago. The record goes all the way back to May 1, 1920, a meeting between the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves. On that historical date, neither team could do much at the plate.
Brooklyn jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 5th inning, thanks to a leadoff walk that turned into a runner on second with one out after a botched double play. A few moments later, Ivy Olson dropped in an RBI single for the first run of the game. An RBI single in the bottom of the 6th inning tied it, those would be the last runs scored in a game that started during the day.
Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger both pitched the entire 26-inning game and likely could have gone back out for the 27th inning. When the night sky arrived at Braves Field, darkness brought a 20-inning scoreless stretch to a halt.
2. Chicago White Sox 7, Milwaukee Brewers 6 on May 8, 1984 – 25 innings
There is a tie for the second-longest game in MLB history and both occurred just a decade apart. The Chicago White Sox faced the Milwaukee Brewers in an early 1984 season matchup. Both teams were tied 3-3 after 18 innings as the clock struck 1 a.m. The game was postponed, resumed the next day and both teams tacked on 3 runs in the 21st inning. Finally, a walk-off in the 25th sealed the longest baseball game ever (duration) at 8 hours and 6 minutes.
3. St. Louis Cardinals 4, New York Mets 3 on Sept. 11, 1974 – 25 innings
When examining the candidates for the longest baseball game ever, you’ll notice a trend. In this Sept. 11 meeting between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, both teams went 14 innings without scoring a single run. This 1974 night game started on a Wednesday night at Shea Stadium and mercifully ended at 3:13 a.m. EST on Thursday, a 7-hour pitcher’s duel that is recognized as the longest MLB game ever without a delay or postponement.
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