Why not play 9?

[Schmick's Gloves]

Do you know why baseball plays exactly 9 innings?

Originally baseball games were played until one team scored 21 runs. As pitching and fielding got better it was taking way too long to reach 21 runs so they limited the games to 9 innings because there were 9 players. The one organization that wanted 7 inning games also only wanted 7 players on the field. Perhaps softball should go to 7 players if they want to keep playing just 7 innings

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[schwabach]

So the arguments against college softball playing 9 innings like college baseball on a forum called "Discuss Fastpitch" are:

Softball is not interesting enough to keep spectators watching beyond 7 innings

And

There isn't enough pitchers


Got it

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Do you have the market research showing that fans want to watch 9 inning games.

Also, my impression from watching a fair amount of SEC softball this year is that pitchers usually don't go the distance. Certainly, there are runs where a pitcher is hot and has a succession of great full games, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Moreover, it seems to me that in Game 2 of the finals, FSU should have changed pitchers in the 5th inning (I believe) in hopes of clinging to a 2-1 lead.

And I'll bet I am not the only viewer who channel surfs games from time to time and settles on a game in the 5th or 6th inning that is close.

Finally, baseball is notably conservative. Last year was the first year they made any dramatic changes and that was in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to that, they made adjustments, but never fundamentally changed the game. Changing the height of the pitchers mound or the seam height on balls counts as an adjustment.