Despite efforts, baseball games are longer than ever

Remember all those steps Major League Baseball has taken to shave the time off games?

It hasn’t helped, because the average time of a nine-inning game reached a record length in the majors this season.

Major League Baseball said Sunday that the final figure for this season was 3 hours, 5 minutes, 35 seconds. That topped the 3:05:11 in 2017.

The average had dropped to 3:00:44 in 2018.

Saving a life

St. Louis Cardinals beat writer Derrick Goold performed CPR on a man in distress Sunday in the Chicago Cubs dugout in St. Louis, helping to save his life.

Videographer Mike Flanary, 64, collapsed in the dugout and did not have a pulse. Goold, who works for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, performed CPR on Flanary before Cubs training staff and emergency medical personnel took over.

Flanary was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after suffering a heart attack and stroke.

“So many people are afraid of doing CPR. But, because of Goold’s actions, he was the first link in that chain of survival,” David Tan, the stadium doctor, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was the early CPR by Derrick Goold that probably saved his life. Derrick wasn’t afraid. He didn’t hesitate. And he did it. In the medical field, when you save somebody like this, they call it a clinical save. This is a clinical save that was started by Derrick Goold. Period.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, Goold is a former lifeguard and Eagle Scout trained in CPR.

Odds time

With the baseball playoffs underway starting Tuesday, here’s a look at the finals odds to win the World Series this season:

Houston Astros, 9-4

Dodgers, 3-1

New York Yankees, 4-1

Atlanta Braves, 10-1

St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1

Washington Nationals, 14-1

Minnesota Twins, 16-1

Oakland Athletics, 16-1

Milwaukee Brewers, 20-1

Tampa Bay Rays, 25-1

Odds to win National League

Dodgers, 1-1

Atlanta Braves, 4-1

St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1

Washington Nationals, 7-1

Milwaukee Brewers, 10-1

Odds to win American League

Houston Astros, 1-1

New York Yankees, 9-4

Minnesota Twins, 8-1

Oakland Athletics, 8-1

Tampa Bay Rays, 12-1

Sports poll

We asked: “Which team would you like to see the Dodgers face in the NLDS?” After 13,104 votes, here are the results:

Milwaukee Brewers, 62.6%

Washington Nationals, 20.9%

St. Louis Cardinals, 16.5%

Your favorite sports moment

What is your favorite all-time L.A. sports moment? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com and tell me what it is and why and it could appear in a future daily sports newsletter or Morning Briefing.

This moment comes from Mark Patterson of Tucson:

“My brother and I were 10 and 12 respectively in the summer of 1970. Our family had rented a house in Manhattan Beach for a couple of weeks. One morning the two of us were down at the beach when this huge man came walking up to the volleyball courts with a group of other people and they proceeded to set up a couple of nets and began playing. My brother and I were in awe of this giant of a man playing volleyball.

“After spending an hour or so watching the players we ran back to the house to tell our Dad. He was not sure to believe us but followed us down to the beach to see for himself. As soon as he saw the tall man he shrugged his shoulders and told us that was Wilt Chamberlain, a famous basketball player for the Lakers. My brother and I were not fans up to that point but we hung around the players the rest of the week and asked Wilt if we could carry his bag.

We spent the week as his bag men to and from his beautiful Cadillac. We have been die-hard Laker fans ever since with special memories of the 1971-72 championship season and the 33-game win streak.