What Two World Series Walk-Off Homers Reveal About the Pitch Timer Era

The past two walk-off World Series home runs occurred only five years apart, but when you watch those at bats, they appear to be from wholly different eras—and they are.

Max Muncy of the Dodgers hit his walk-off homer off Nathan Eovaldi of the Red Sox in 2018 World Series Game 3. Back then, in the era when players could take as much time as they wanted, the average nine-inning regular season game took three hours.

Adolis García of the Rangers hit his walk-off homer off Miguel Castro of the Diamondbacks in 2023 World Series Game 1. The average nine-inning game this year, thanks to the introduction of the pitch timer, took 2:40—20 minutes less despite the same number of pitches per game (297).

Both home runs occurred in extra innings (the 18th in Los Angeles and the 11th in Texas). Both occurred with the bases empty. Both occurred with the pitcher facing his first batter of the inning.

An examination of those two plate appearances tells you where all the time was saved—time when nothing happened. Here is a comparison that includes the average time between pitches (seconds per pitch) and the times when the batter stepped out of the batter’s box or the pitcher left the mound:

The Castro/García matchup plays out at a 31% faster pace than the Eovaldi/Muncy matchup.

Now that we have an entire season watching games with a pitch timer, the game from 2018 looks archaic, even wasteful. The biggest difference is the dawdling that goes on.

After each of the first four pitches, Muncy steps out of the batter’s box and readjusts both batting gloves—even though he has not yet swung the bat. García never leaves the batter’s box except for once losing his balance on the follow-through of a swing.

Here are screenshots of their typical between-pitch postures. Muncy leaves the box and adjusts his gloves; Garcia keeps his back foot in the same place where he takes his stance:

That’s not all that has changed dramatically. The 2018 World Series occurred smack in the middle of the Sign Stealing Era, both legal and illegal. Teams were paranoid about sign security. Every time Boston catcher Sandy León gives a sign—with nobody on base—he goes through a series of signs that are as elaborate as a third-base coach. He rifles through a series of touches on his arm and body before flashing a series of signs with his fingers.

Thanks to the development of PitchCom, the wireless communication device that debuted last year, Arizona catcher Gabriel Moreno needs only to touch a button to call a pitch. It’s theft-proof and simple.

The average plate appearance in 2018 World Series Game 3 took three minutes and 22 seconds. The average plate appearance in World Series Game 1 took 2:38. Garcia’s home run ended a game that ran four hours and two minutes. Had it been played at the same per-plate appearance pace as the Muncy game five years ago, it would have taken 5:09—one hour and seven minutes longer of nothingness.