Japanese baseball's executive committee on Thursday decided to scrap the 3½-hour time limit on extra innings this season.
In an effort to conserve power since the March 11 disasters two years ago, games did not enter new extra innings after 3½ hours.
But contrary to expectations, the rule did not lead to games being played much quicker, and led to more ties which the NPB wants to avoid.
Last season, the average game took 3 hours and 10 minutes in both the Central and Pacific leagues.