‘Faster and more fun’ The 2023 KBO League runs fast with an average game time of 3 hours and 5 minutes (based on regular innings).
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) normalized the strike zone for the 2022 season and strengthened speed-up regulations.
The average duration of 720 games in the 2022 regular season (based on 9 innings) was 3 hours and 11 minutes, 3 minutes faster than 3 hours and 14 minutes in 2021. Walks per game decreased to 6.90 from 8.38 in 2021. The KBO strengthens the speed-up regulations with the goal of providing more fun and thrilling games through faster progress.
First of all, the manager and coach’s mound visit time is strictly applied during the game. League Rules [Speed-up of Game] 3. Pitcher change ②’When visiting the mound, the manager, coach or player moves as quickly as possible and the time of each visit is limited to 30 seconds. When 30 seconds have elapsed, the referee notifies this and the manager or coach must immediately return to the dugout’ is changed from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. 스포츠토토
In addition, the content that ‘the catcher must complete the preparation for the catch at the point when 30 seconds have elapsed’ is added. From the 2023 season, the manager and coach moved to the dugout at 25 seconds of the visit, and from the 30 second point, the catcher completed the preparation for the catch, supplementing the rules so that the game could be played quickly.
Then, from the moment the hitter enters the plate, at least one foot is placed in the plate, and a fine of 200,000 won is imposed in case of violation. The referee plans to thoroughly check whether the batter has violated the breakaway rules and lead to compliance, except for cases where breakaway is unavoidably allowed.
In addition, a speed-up evaluation is conducted in the referee evaluation to ensure that the referee actively runs the game while emphasizing spin-up. ‘Strict speed-up regulation application’, ‘active speed-up encouragement’, and ‘smooth progress and rapid contribution to the game’ are added to the referee evaluation.
In addition, during cleaning time, waiting players are prohibited from having private conversations with opponents on the ground. Access to the referee room by players and team executives is restricted, and private contact is prohibited. The above is a measure to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings and strengthen fairness.
With this speedup reinforcement, KBO has set a clear goal of reducing the average game time in the 2023 regular season by less than 3 hours and 5 minutes. We plan to do our best to continuously shorten the game time by researching and reviewing the application of new regulations that allow speed-ups. We plan to announce monthly speed-up statistics so that more league officials can pay attention to speed-up, and the ranking of each team’s game time is aggregated and notified to the clubs that are lacking.