A new extra-innings record for MLB

You might have heard by now that there were more extra-inning games in 2013 than any season in baseball history. Tuesday’s Blue Jays/Orioles tilt sealed it. But Jason Lukehart found a few nuggets apart from that, too. If you made a line graph for the frequency of extra-inning games, the trend would definitely be going upward:

Seasons with the most extra-inning games*:

1) 2013: 239
2) 2011: 237
t3) 1986: 220
t3) 1991: 220
t3) 2007: 220
t3) 2010: 220
t7) 1996: 218
t7) 2004: 218
t9) 1977: 212
t9) 1982: 212

I want to blame relief specialists for no good reason, but only because I’m without any other explanations. Except for the league expanding to 28 teams in 1993 and 30 teams in 1998. Which ...

Alright, that’s probably it. And the pitching renaissance doesn’t help. But if you’ve been wondering if there are more extra-inning games than you remember ... you’re right.