Fun fact: Originally, baseball games did not have a set length. The early Knickerbockers matches were “first-to-21,” like pickup basketball. The decision to switch to a set length was made at the 1857 national base ball (two words) convention. The convention initially decided on seven innings, but thanks to the efforts of Gothams/Knickerbockers slugger and convention delegate Lew Wadsworth, seven innings were rejected in favor of nine.
Before this season, I had assumed every Major League Baseball team knew how many innings were in a standard baseball game. However, it’s become clear to me that the White Sox think baseball games are only three innings, and the entire organization is operating under this falsehood. To the best of my knowledge, the standard length for baseball games has never been three innings.
Tuesday’s 9-2 loss to the Marlins proved my point. The Sox went up, 2-0, in the top of the third, thanks to a string of hits from Edgar Quero through Munetaka Murakami. The Marlins were held scoreless in the bottom half of the frame. That’s when the confusion appeared to set in.
Somebody must have informed the White Sox that there were six more innings to play. Despite this clearly being a regular occurrence, CHSN has never aired this as it happens. I can only guess who it always falls on to relay this information. Is it the umpiring crew? A bat boy? Maybe Murakami has already had to bring it up this year, sheepishly, as his new teammates grab their bats and gloves and turn to walk toward the showers (my research has shown that Japanese baseball is also nine innings.)
Our poor White Sox, for whatever reason, are always taken aback by this. Maybe it’s coaching; as best I can tell, Will Venable has not confirmed on the record that he knows a baseball game lasts nine innings. Or perhaps everybody on the Sox has that “Momento” disease.
No matter the cause, the effects are obvious: The news of a fourth inning clearly disoriented both Luisangel Acuña and Tristian Peters, as they collectively forgot how to call for a fly ball. Erick Fedde, having just learned minutes earlier that he did not throw a complete game, was unable to get back into a competitive mindset. White Sox strikers were held hitless for the last six innings while being outscored, 9-0.
This has been a consistent problem already in 2026. Here are their hitting splits so far:
Innings 1-3: .302/.371/.571
Innings 4-6: .173/.267/.327
Innings 7-9: .125/.208/.208
… and their pitching splits:
Innings 1-3: 4.80 ERA
Innings 4-6: 9.00 ERA
Innings 7-9: 12.27 ERA
It’s the bullpen that confuses me the most. Before the fourth inning, why do relievers think they’re there? Do they ever ask one another why the team needs 13 arms when the team is liable to play, at most, 21 innings per week? It must be terrifying to warm up for an innings you previously didn’t know existed, by a bullpen coach who is just as surprised and frightened.
Worse yet, this is an issue that dates back at least a year. Conventional wisdom holds that the more often you see a pitcher, the better you’ll perform. Here is the league average last season for each time a starting pitcher goes through the batting order:
First time: .241/.307/.400
Second time: .249/.311/.416
Third time: .258/.324/.432
And here are the ’25 White Sox:
First time: .246/.305/.419
Second time: .231/.299/.371
Third time: .238/.295/.369
The evidence is clear: The White Sox offense only prepares for one at-bat per game. So, if you or someone you know could please relay the standard length of a baseball game to the White Sox clubhouse before their next game, things just might turn around yet!
