It helped that Max Scherzer was dominant and efficient against the Tampa Bay Rays last night in Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park, where the Nats and Rays completed all nine innings of their matchup in 2:41.
That’s just eleven more minutes than it took to play the first seven-inning matchup of the doubleheader with the Braves last Friday in Atlanta (2:30), and significantly shorter than that night’s seven-inning nightcap (3:10). Saturday’s nine-inning game? 3:31. Sunday’s? 3:26. So was it nice for Scherzer and his teammates to have a sort of normal length game?