MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred gets contract extension after owners vote

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Rob Manfred has drawn plenty of controversy during his tenure as MLB commissioner, but the owners still think he's the man for the job.

So, the 30 majority team owners voted Wednesday to extend his contract through the 2028 season.

Manfred has made some debatable moves as commissioner, but there's no denying that perhaps his most controversial decisions in his rule changes, despite backlash from baseball purists, have been a huge success.

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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks to the media at the Arizona Biltmore resort on Feb. 15, 2023, in Phoenix. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Perhaps the biggest change was the pitch timer, but MLB's exact goal to up the pace has been accomplished. Entering Wednesday, the average length of a nine-inning game was two hours and 38 minutes. If that length holds, it would be the shortest average time since 1984, when games took two hours and 35 minutes on average.

That is a dramatic difference from the 3 hours and 11 minutes in 2021, the longest ever, and the three hours and six minutes from last year. The average game hasn't been under three hours long since 2015.

Fans were afraid to see timer violations, but that has practically become a non-issue. According to data MLB provided at the All-Star break, up to that point, the number of violations per game went down from 0.87 on Opening Day to 0.23 on the final day of the first half of the season.

Commissioner Rob Manfred is shown during the MLB Draft at Lumen Field on July 9, 2023, in Seattle. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

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