Commish: MLB weighs pros, cons of reliever limits

The average Major League game features 6.1 relief pitchers — or, basically, three per team. That’s nearly a full reliever more per game than just 15 years ago (5.3), illustrating how much the late-inning matchup game has developed in the sport in a short time.

Among the suggestions for how to improve baseball’s pace of play is the notion of limiting the number of times a manager can go to his ‘pen in a given inning or a given game. And it’s a suggestion that Commissioner Rob Manfred, in an interview on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” on Thursday, said is under consideration.

“I am actually in favor of something like that,” Manfred said. “We’ve spent a ton of time on this issue in the last few months.”

Pace of play is one of many topics being discussed with the MLB Players Association in advance of the Dec. 1 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. Though the multiple rule changes were initiated prior to 2015 — preventing batters from stepping out of the box after taking a pitch and installing a clock to ensure play began promptly after commercial breaks — helped lead to a six-minute decrease in average of time game from ’14 (with a 2015 average of 2 hours, 56 minutes, according to STATS LLC), the average crept back up to the three-hour mark in the first half of …

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