Are baseball games getting longer?

2023-11-20 09:44:39

Are baseball games getting longer?


 


March 28th, 2018 was opening day for this year's Major League Baseball season. It's a good time for some Major League Baseball math! In this activity students think about how major league game lengths have changed over time. Is there a need to pick up the pace of the game?  Have baseball games been getting longer?  If so, why is that? Students examine two scatter plots and a line graph to decide how the average length of time for an MLB game has changed and by what rate.  As they analyze the causes for that change they observe the average number of pitchers per game, historically, and how the ratio of foul balls to balls in play has changed. Before handing out the activity consider starting by asking student how long they think a Major League Baseball game takes to play.  Do they think games are taking longer or are they getting shorter and why? Here is a great video that you and your class can watch right after the first scatter plot. Just be aware, that at 2:04 in the video, David Ortiz is bleeped out saying "bullsh__".    https://youtu.be/RlSEE0a7xY8 And here is a great article - "Foul Balls Are the Pace-of-Play Problem That No One Is Talking About".

This activity could be used with any age group from 5th grade up if you don't emphasize a line of best fit. For Adventurer members we have an editable Word docx, our Excel sheets of data, and solutions.


Activity Solutions & Supporting Materials
Share this:
Comments (0)
    Display 1 - 10 Of total 0
    Chuck E. Cheese needed to shred
    Restaurants have been having a hard time and Chu...
    What does the data show?
    When you look at the new case numbers of the C...
    How much does a Lego cost?
    This is a three act task, with an activity guide...
    Cubs bury curse !
      Wow!  It's been a long time comin...
    New bust of King Charles ... in chocolate
    Saturday, May 6th 2023 will be King Charles' ...
    How much caffeine are you consuming?
       Did you know that there is an amount...
    Proposed southern border wall
    You have probably heard about the proposed b...
    Shoprite's solar energy goals on the African continent
      Shoprite is the largest supermarke...
    Will the new iPhone sales be huge?
    Apple just announced their new, 10th anniversary...
    Giant chocolate bunnies
    What can you deduce about these bunnies f...