Rangers begin zeroing on rule changes as spring games start

(AP photo/Morry Gash)

Miss Pease was a great high-school history teacher and writing coach, and one of her tenets was to avoid speaking in absolutes.

Instead of writing always, write almost always or usually. Instead of saying all, say most.

Her point was that someone out there or something out there is an exception.

Back when she started teaching, though, the average time of an MLB game was around 2 hours, 30 minutes. Now, the average time of game has been more than 3 hours for 11 consecutive seasons.

With all due respect to Miss Pease, everyone agrees that baseball games need to be shorter.