Through Wednesday, the average time of a nine-inning game was down to 2 hours, 53 minutes and 40 seconds, according to Major League Baseball.

The reduction in time means that a series of tardiness fines that were supposed to go into effect Friday may not, according to executives from both MLB and the players' union.

The two sides are having "dialogue" about relaxing or eliminating most of the fines, said Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, because the results so far have been so good without them.

The average nine-inning game is taking approximately eight fewer minutes than it did last season.