Every MLB team has survived the first day of the pitch clock era. And even with just 15 games in the books out of the 2,430 that will be played this year, we know one thing: the pitch clock is making a huge difference.
The average time for all of Thursday's Opening Day games was two hours and 45 minutes. That's 26 minutes shorter than the average of all 2022 Opening Day games, which was three hours and 11 minutes. Here's the duration of every game played on Thursday.
The longest game was three hours and 38 minutes, and the shortest was just two hours and four minutes. Compare that to 2022 and you see some major differences. The longest Opening Day game in 2022 was three hours and 56 minutes, and the shortest was 2 hours and 49 minutes. In fact, 13 of the 15 games played on Opening Day 2022 lasted at least three hours. In 2023, just five games were longer than three hours, and four of those were finished in 3:10 or less.
In the very, very short term (literally one day of games), the pitch clock has already achieved its goal. The games are shorter and the pace is quicker.
But since the pitch clock was such a major change, there will be ramifications beyond just shorter game times. And a lot more than 15 games have to be played for people to identify and understand the how the pitch clock has impacted the game. How has it affected pitchers overall? Are they struggling with the time limit when they're in a jam and stressed out? How are hitters adjusting? Will catchers be more durable since they're not squatting as much? And what about the fans? Will the pace of play change fan behavior?
That's just a small sampling of the many, many questions that will be asked in the coming weeks and months (and even years). This is legitimately new, untrodden ground for every player, every manager, and every fan. The pitch clock may change the game in ways no one ever anticipated. With just one day of the six-month season completed, the only thing we know for sure is that games are shorter. But with every game that's played, we'll learn more about how baseball will look in 2023 and beyond.