4h 45m will fall

As was widely reported, MLB and the umpire's union reached an agreement Tuesday that will add video replay to MLB games. Thank goodness, because I wasn't sure that 2h 50m – the average time of a nine-inning game this season according to Elias Sports Bureau – was quite long enough. Yes, despite the much ballyhooed "focus" on game pacing that was talked about endlessly during this year's preseason, games are down a grand total of [drumroll] one minute from last year [rimshot].

OOOoooooOOOOooo, I can't wait for replay in the postseason; a nine-inning game last year averaged 3h 26m. Imagine us East Coasters showing up to our day jobs on the morning after a playoff game now that umpires will have to leave the field to go to the video.

The rub in all this is that video replay, while it does get a certain number of calls corrected, has not been proven to alter the outcome of games, at least based on the NFL model. In fact, just the opposite is true. Even with replay, outcomes continue to effected by officiating at about the same rate as it was before replay because not all plays are reviewable.

Maybe more importantly, adding video review will most assuredly eliminate some manager-umpire "discussions," such as Lou Pinella's dialog with Mark Wegner (above). This, many times, is the only highlight from MLB games. (The always make it onto SportsCenter, don't they?)

Play the game and let the game be played. You do it right and the umps won't matter at all.

BTW, 4h 45m? That's the longest 9-inning regular season game on record, Aug. 18, 2006. The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 14-11.