Wainwright Misses Old Drama as MLB Embraces a New Era

Adam Wainwright, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who retired after the first year of MLB’s pitch timer, says he welcomes the faster pace but misses certain elements of baseball’s old rhythm. In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the pitcher who helped anchor St. Louis’ rotation through the 2010s reflected on how the sport’s changes—from pitch clocks to larger bases to new PitchCom and an expanding analytics universe—have altered the feel of the game.

The changes have shortened games overall. MLB implemented a pitch timer in 2023, and the average length of a nine-inning game dropped from about 3 hours 10 minutes to 2 hours 39 minutes. The league said the next season trimmed a few more minutes, though this year netted back a portion of that gain. Wainwright watched the clock from the mound in his time, and the numbers reflect a sport that now moves with a different cadence.

"It became a little bit too much, probably," Wainwright admitted in the interview. "The length of the game now is perfect." Yet even as he embraced the pace, he cautioned that some baseball magic lives in late-inning moments. "Bottom of the ninth, it’s the playoffs, there’s so much drama, a pitcher can step off and think about what he’s going to throw next and build the drama even more. And then you’re kind of sitting there watching and you’re like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ I miss that."

From another standpoint, the former captain of the mound noted that the game’s evolution hasn’t erased the thinking part of pitching. "A pitcher third time through the order, you used to have time to go, ‘Okay, first time I got him out with fastballs in, next time I got him out with changeups down and in, now away should be wide open.’ But I see him stepping toward the plate. Maybe he’s expecting something. Maybe I’ll jam him.’ I miss that ability, because when you’re on the mound, and you get the ball back, and you look at the catcher, you’ve got eight seconds by that time. So it’s like, ‘no, no, no, oh I gotta go.’ I’m a thinking man’s pitcher, I love the thinking side of it. I miss that part of it."

Wainwright also observed how analytics have seeped into everyday baseball. "There’s so much information out there that a pitcher needs. There’s a happy medium there where analytics and old-school meet that’s probably the perfect sweet spot. I appreciate the slow‑mo camera that shows you exactly why the spin was better on this certain pitch. I appreciate that and the ability to go back and say ‘OK, I’ve got to make sure my hand is at this angle through the throwing motion.’ Or if he doesn’t hit it, why doesn’t he hit it? The numbers say this is why he doesn’t hit it. OK, maybe I should do more of that. So those things are really cool."

But like many players, he argued that data isn’t everything. "There’s things that informationally, you take it all in, and then you’ve got to say, ‘OK, I understand you, but that is a computer, it doesn’t understand the human side of things. I don’t want to try to throw that pitch ever again. That was totally luck, and if I throw it again, it would be a disaster.’ So you filter all these things, and then you put it through the filter, and then you go, ‘OK, I really like that, I really like that. I don’t want that, that doesn’t matter to me. I’m not trying to do that.’ And so you make your decision based on that."

On the attendance note, MLB’s changes have not deterred fan interest. Attendance has been trending upward, with the league projecting an average above 29,000 per game for a third straight year, the first such stretch since before 2017. At the same time, two teams — the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays — are drawing crowds in smaller venues this season, limiting attendance across 162 games. Each of the last two seasons marked back-to-back attendance gains for the league, a contrast to a long period of stagnation.

Wainwright closed by saying that the sport’s evolution is ongoing and that a successful balance exists where data informs decisions without erasing the craft that defined generations of pitchers. He emphasized that the human element remains central even as new tools reshape preparation and strategy. As MLB continues to refine rules and analytics, Wainwright’s perspective underscores a broader debate about pace, drama, and the art of pitching in a modern game.

The interview illustrates a veteran voice navigating a changing game, where the pace of play aims to attract new fans while many longtime observers cherish the late-inning tension that once defined baseball’s most meaningful moments. As analytics continue to deepen, Wainwright’s comment that baseball remains a thinking man’s game resonates with players who still value the craft, even as the sport accelerates toward a future that could include further innovations.