In Thursday's discussion of free agent pitchers living in Speculationville, I joked that a six-inning Doug Davis start combined with a three-inning Claudio Vargas save may set a team record for the longest nine-inning game. I followed up by noting the current team record is a 4 hour, 22 minute slugfest in Chicago. I also forgot scoring six more runs than the other guys means you win, but I digress.
I figured if I went to the trouble of looking up the record, I might as well post about the longest "regular" games in team history. The following is a list of the 20 longest nine-inning games in Brewers history. The dates are linked to the Baseball-Reference box score/play-by-play for each game.
| Rank | Date | Opponent | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5/11/2000 | @CHC | 14-8 | 4:22 |
| 2 | 7/10/1983 | @CHW | 12-9 | 4:11 |
| 3 | 8/4/2005 | @NYM | 12-9 | 4:09 |
| 4 | 9/29/2001 | @COL | 12-14 | 4:08 |
| 5 | 5/21/2000 | SFG | 10-16 | 4:04 |
| 6 | 7/1/1999 | @CHC | 19-12 | 4:00 |
| 7 | 7/16/1999 | KCR | 10-12 | 4:00 |
| 8 | 5/12/1987 | OAK | 8-10 | 3:59 |
| 9 | 5/24/1995 | @CLE | 7-5 | 3:59 |
| 10 | 5/20/2006 | MIN | 10-16 | 3:57 |
| 11 | 6/15/2009 | @CLE | 14-12 | 3:56 |
| 12 | 4/18/1990 | @TEX | 11-6 | 3:55 |
| 13 | 5/25/1992 | @NYY | 10-13 | 3:54 |
| 14 | 7/9/1994 | CHW | 7-11 | 3:52 |
| 15 | 5/17/1999 | @NYM | 7-6 | 3:51 |
| 16 | 6/8/1995 | CLE | 7-8 | 3:50 |
| 17 | 4/8/2000 | @STL | 8-10 | 3:50 |
| 18 | 9/3/2007 | HOU | 7-9 | 3:50 |
| 19 | 6/19/1989 | @MIN | 11-8 | 3:49 |
| 20 | 9/27/1992 | OAK | 5-3 | 3:49 |
Some random thoughts:
- The Brewers were 10-10 in those 20 games. However, they lost all five 3:48 nine-inning games.
- 1999 and 2000 were long seasons in more ways than one.
- The 4th, 13th, 17th, and 20th games on the above list actually lasted 8 1/2 innings, leaving us all to wonder what might have been.
- You can see the impact of television on the length of games. There are only 3 marathons from the 1980s and none before 1983. The longest nine-inning game of the 1970s was a 3:42 loss to the Angels on 9/14/1979. That game just barely edged the 49th game in Brewers history, a 3:40 loss to the Cleveland Indians on 6/3/1970.
- The longest nine-inning Seattle Pilots game was this 3:35 affair.
- The last time a nine-inning Brewers game finished in under two hours was 4/16/2004. The Brewers starting pitcher in the 2-0 loss lasting 1 hour and 58 minutes? None other than Doug Davis. Now about that joke...
- Finally, "low-scoring" is subjective and some generous types may consider the 20th place game to fit the bill. Personally, I like wondering how a 1-0 game can take 3:02 to play.