One refrain coming out of Game 5 of the NLDS was how the seventh inning was an hour and six minutes. One of the major factors for it being that long was the number of pitching changes made.

In the top of the seventh inning along, Dusty Baker made seven pitching changes. Now, it should be noted that among those changes was Oliver Perez coming in for Shawn Kelley because Kelley suffered an injury and had to come out of the game. In the bottom of the seventh, not including Grant Dayton coming into the game because Dave Roberts pinch hit for Julio Urias in the top of the seventh inning, there was one more pitching change when Kenley Jansen entered the game.

Now, in the postseason, there is a 2:45 minute commercial break between innings and for pitching changes. With the six pitching changes last night, that means there was an additional 15 minutes of dead air time. That was 15 minutes away from the game. Was all that time away necessary? Arguably, it wasn’t.

With the exception of Perez, each of the pitchers who entered the game had time to go into the bullpen and get warmed up to go into the game. Therefore, unlike the pitcher that was sitting in the dugout between innings, the pitcher is ready to go. Naturally, you may want to give the pitcher a few warm-up pitches to get acclimated to the mound. However, there is no reason why a pitcher needs almost three minutes to get warmed up when they are already warm. At that point, the pitcher should be ready to go.

Ideally, you don’t want the broadcast to break away to a commercial break. The broadcast sticking with Clayton Kershaw throwing off the mound while Daniel Murphy was looming on deck on heightened the drama that was already present. Not only that, it kept you in the moment. Your focus was on what was the biggest moment of this postseason thus far.

Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. While it is best for the viewers, and probably the sport of baseball, that the broadcast does not cut away from the moment, Fox still needs to pay its bills. Keep in mind, Fox pays MLB approximately $500 million per year to televise regular season and postseason games. Fox needs advertising revenues to justify that expense. To get the advertising revenues, Fox needs commercial breaks. With that in mind, here are some practical solutions:

Reduce the Commercial Break Time for Pitching Changes

This solution is splitting the baby a bit. This would permit Fox to still have an opportunity to sell some commercial for pitching changes while at the same time improving the flow of the game. The hope here is that by reducing the commercial break time, you are heightening the drama and intensity of the moment. Furthermore, you have more people glued to their screens. At least conceptually, this would put a premium for that specific commercial break time (even if it probably doesn’t work out that way in a practical sense).

Allow Advertising Throughout the Game

This one tends to be a little touchy for sports fans and especially for baseball fans. Baseball fans already complain of the crowded screen with the score, the broadcaster’s logo, the sometimes present K-Zone, and the crawler that appears during some points of the game. However, let’s be honest, the advertising is already present.

If you listen the games on the radio, you hear a GEICO ad for the 15th batter of the game. If you watch Mets games, you are familiar with the Cholulua Hot Sauce radar gun readings. Additionally, you see the advertising signs behind home plate during the games or on the outfield walls. They are ever present. Adding a Mastercard logo to the screen wouldn’t be any more of an intrusion. Furthermore, it would increase revenues and permit baseball to take measures to really increase the flow of games, including but not limited to reducing commercial time for pitching changes.

Split Screen

This is the solution that probably works best for everyone. Fox gets to keep the commercial time to sell to advertisers. Presumably, advertisers would permit the split screen because there would be less people walking away from the TV or switching the channel in that moment because they are watching the pitcher warm up. Additionally, fans can stay within the moment if they so choose.

Overall, it isn’t really about the pace of the game per se. It is really about being taken out of the moment. You go from the high intensity of the of the rally with the manager walking out to the mound to make the pitching change. After the change is made, there’s a commercial break taking out of the moment. Unless that is one of your teams on the field, you lose a bit of that intensity. You take quick mental break from the game. That isn’t good for anyone.

Rather, baseball needs to find a way to keep you engaged while also keeping you emotionally invested in the moment. A baseball game is about the ebbs and flows of the game. When there is a moment of high stakes and increasing drama, it is absolutely captivating. The worst thing with any captive audience is to send them away. That’s why commerical breaks for pitching changes need to change immediately.