How Late Can You Go To A Baseball Game? (Surprising Truth)

In modern times, everything is timed and scheduled. Our full lives revolve around the clock and different periods and requirements. That’s our way of life. Imagine if a baseball game wouldn’t have a set time to start. How would anybody know when to arrive?

Sometimes when you have a known time when you should arrive, at a baseball game, for example, you will be late. And as we all know, baseball tickets aren’t super cheap, so you really should know whether you can go to a baseball game late or have your tickets gone to waste?

You can arrive as late as you need to a baseball game because the gates will be open at all times from the start of when they are opened until the game is finished.

So when life happens, you don’t need to worry about getting inside the stadium. However, catching the full game, going in without a major crowd, and sitting in your seats without the need to ask someone to move because of seat hopping is another thing.

Luckily, baseball games last for hours, and the culture of the crowd, depending on the baseball seating area, is often relaxed and social.

Except for the scout and behind the dugout seats, many people are chatting and focusing on their snacks half the time rather than the game anyways. So if you’re arriving late to the game for the experience, nothing is lost if you are a little bit late.

Changing seats for the better at a baseball game has always been popular, so if you have good seats but arrive late, you can expect someone to sit on your seats. This isn’t an issue whatsoever because you can kindly note that you have reserved the seat, and that’s usually that.

Related: Where Does The Home Team Sit In Baseball?

When Should You Arrive at a Baseball Game?

Depending on your personal preferences, there are different times that you can arrive at the baseball game. However, what is the earliest you can go, and how does it vary?

Depending on the MLB stadium, you should arrive 1½ hours before the game because that’s when the gates will open on all days of the week. On weekends, some stadiums open 2 – 2½ hours before the game, so to catch batting practice, you should arrive then.

As stated, this varies between ballparks, so to know the exact time, check out the specific baseball stadiums and their gate opening times.

On the other hand, if you want to see the game and nothing else, you should arrive much later. For example, if a game were to start at 18.00, you can park your car at 17.40, which should leave enough time to go through the crowd into your seat.

How Long Does a Traditional Baseball Game Last?

When you compare baseball to other sports such as ice hockey or soccer, the games are considerably longer. In ice hockey, you have 3x 20 rounds, whereas, in soccer, you have 2x 45minute halftime.

However, you will have nine innings in professional baseball with halves on each. Innings aren’t fixed times such as rounds or halftime, but a goal determines them.

The half on an inning will end when the fielding team has got three hitters or runners out. Then, the fielding teams go to bat and vice versa. After nine innings have been completed, the team with the most runs wins.

The time isn’t fixed by playing baseball according to the innings that each one will vary in time. However, the games last nearly always at almost the same time. So, how long does a traditional baseball game last?

When you add up the game times of all 30 MLB teams within a season, the average game length is 3 hours and 11 minutes. The game times were between 3:04 & 3:19. Each year, the average game time will change because the innings aren’t time fixed.

To show the interesting game time data of 2021 MLB teams, check out the average game time of each MLB team individually.

Baseball Team	Time of Game
Arizona Diamondbacks	3:15
Atlanta Braves	3:08
Baltimore Orioles	3:06
Boston Red Sox	3:17
Chicago White Sox	3:16
Chicago Cubs	3:09
Cincinnati Reds	3:14
Cleveland Indians	3:04
Colorado Rockies	3:12
Detroit Tigers	3:06
Houston Astros	3:19
Kansas City Royals	3:08
Los Angeles Angels	3:12
Los Angeles Dodgers	3:18
Miami Marlins	3:11
Milwaukee Brewers	3:16
Minnesota Twins	3:10
New York Mets	3:09
New York Yankees	3:16
Oakland Athletics	3:08
Philadelphia Phillies	3:16
Pittsburgh Pirates	3:17
San Diego Padres	3:19
San Francisco Giants	3:12
Seattle Mariners	3:12
St. Louis Cardinals	3:10
Tampa Bay Rays	3.07
Texas Rangers	3:05
Toronto Blue Jays	3:04
Washington Nationals	3:13
All MLB Teams	3:11:40

The average baseball time is gained when you divide the sum of the numbers by the total number of values in the set. However, you need to keep in mind that you need to alter the hours and minutes to only minutes, add them all up, divide them by the right number, which is 30, and then change the minutes to hours & minutes.

For example, all the MLB average times added up to 5750 minutes which was then divided by all the MLB teams, by 30. Then it comes out as 191,6minutes which is 3 hours, 11 minutes, and 40 seconds.

What Has Been the Longest Baseball Game Ever?

Even when the average baseball game time is near the three-hour mark, it isn’t always so. In fact, the game can theoretically go on forever. Although, in reality, the game will always end.

That being said, what’s the longest baseball game in history?

The longest professional baseball game ever recorded lasted 33 innings and was 8 hours and 25 minutes long. The game was played in 1981 between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Redwings in the Triple-A International League, which is the highest level of play in minor league baseball.

Imagine playing baseball for more than 8 hours straight. That’s a good day’s work if you ask me.

Although, the game was stopped at 32 innings, and the 33rd inning was played approximately 2months later. The game resulted in the victory of Pawtucket Red Sox 3-2.

What Time Should You Leave a Baseball Game?

Sometimes, you need or want to leave early from a baseball game. There can be many reasons for this, such as you have something to attend to, you want to avoid the crowd, or you are done watching baseball.

Be that as it may, there is an optimal time to leave a baseball game without missing crucial plays or when to avoid the crowd.

As a rule of thumb, you should leave a baseball game when the leader is up by 6 runs because you won’t likely miss anything of note. However, if you have kids with you, do what is best for them. Finally, if the game is prolonged and the end isn’t in sight, you should also leave.

The six-run rule isn’t just pulled from the hat, but it’s a rather statistically studied subject. The FiftyThirtyEight has studied the subject well, and it results that if you follow the six-run rule, the other team has less than 5% to make a comeback.

However, the six-run rule changes when the innings proceeds. For the specific run advantage when you should leave based on the inning, check out the table below.

You Should Leave	When Leader Is Winning By
1st inning	6 runs
2nd inning	6 runs
3rd inning	5 runs
4th inning	5 runs
5th inning	4 runs
6th inning	4 runs
7th inning	3 runs
8th inning	2 runs

Think about it, when the game proceeds, the team behind has fewer chances to make a comeback, so the run amount decreases as the innings increase.

Now, if you have children with you at the game, you should leave when they want for their and others’ sake.

Oh, and the games can be prolonged by hours, which is rare, but it happens. When the game is still going at night, and you have watched it extremely long, you shouldn’t feel guilty about leaving, even when sitting at the scout seats or behind the dugout.