Does Baseball Have Halftime? (All You Need To Know)
I remember watching my first MLB baseball game. I mistakenly made the assumption that there would be a half-time break halfway through the fifth inning, in other words after four and a half of the nine innings were completed. Instead, there was a longer break halfway through the seventh inning. This confused me, so I did some research to learn how all the breaks in a baseball game work. This is what I found out.
MLB baseball games do not have halftime. There is a 5 to 15-minute break during the seventh inning called the seventh inning stretch. Additionally, there is a 2-minute break between each inning while the batting and fielding teams switch places.
Let’s take a closer look at how all the breaks during an MLB baseball game work so that you don’t miss a minute of the action.
Does Baseball Have Halftime
There is no official halftime during a game of baseball. When the teams swap during and after each inning there is a 2-minute break before play resumes. During a game of baseball, there are 17 of these 2-minute breaks which add up to 34 minutes of breaks spread throughout the game.
In addition, there is the seventh-inning stretch which is a break of between 5 and 15 minutes where players take a break and fans can move around to stretch their legs.
Televised MLB games have a between-inning break of 2 minutes and 5 seconds to allow for adequate time to flight a full 2 minutes of commercial breaks.
Are There Any Breaks In Baseball?
During the course of a standard 9-inning game of baseball, there are a total of 17 between-inning commercial breaks while the batting team heads out to the field and the fielding team heads to the dugout.
The 7th inning has a longer break where fans can get up and walk around and players head to the locker rooms for a bathroom break if needed.
How long is a baseball game?
On average MLB professional baseball games in America last about three hours.
The game is split into nine innings. During each inning the away team bats first, referred to as batting in the top half of the inning. The home team always bats second in each inning and that is known as batting in the bottom half of the inning.
Batting second is an advantage because you know what score you are chasing and can adjust your game strategy accordingly. This adds to the home ground advantage of playing in front of your team’s own fans.
How long are baseball breaks?
All televised MLB baseball games have exactly 2 minutes and 5 seconds scheduled for each inning break. The 5 seconds is allocated for the time it takes to cross to commercial and cross back to the game, allowing the networks a full 2 minutes to air commercials.
During the seventh inning, there is the seventh-inning stretch, which is a longer break allowing fans at the stadium to get up and walk around to stretch their legs.
Although the seventh-inning stretch can last between 5 and 15 minutes, in practice it is seldom less than 8 minutes in televised games to allow for sufficient commercials. The seventh-inning stretch is increased in 2-minute intervals if the networks need additional time for commercials but can’t exceed the 15-minute time limit.
