7 or 9 innings?

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 1 month ago by Mark Astolfi.

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- September 18, 2020 at 11:44 am
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Mark Astolfi
Participant

In August a 4-game series between the Cardinals and Tigers was postponed and only 2 of the games made up. If these games are needed to decide playoff qualifiers, they would be played in Detroit on Monday 9/28, ahead of the start of the playoffs 9/29.

If only one game is needed, it would be scheduled for 9 innings…if both games are needed, both would be scheduled for 7 innings. But it’s possible they won’t know whether 1 or 2 games are needed until after the first game is played. So is the first game scheduled for 7 or 9 innings? I would say 7, since they are scheduling a doubleheader with the possibility that the second game could be cancelled due to it not effecting the standings, just as the second game could be cancelled due to some other circumstance, such as weather.

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- - January 16, 2021 at 11:16 am
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  Mark Astolfi
  Participant
  
  Wow, this is a roaring hot topic! Altho I see other posts that get zero comments, so what the heck. Maybe I just wasn’t saying it right…it is tricky. The point is, consider a situation where you are only going to make up as many games as are necessary to determine playoff status. And you don’t know whether it will take one game or two. If it would take one game, you’d play 9 innings…if two games, 7 innings. For how many innings do you schedule the first game? And my answer was, since it’s possible you’d need two games, you schedule two games for 7 innings each, then cancel the second game if it’s not necessary. Trouble with that reasoning is, the losing team could argue that since you only played one game, it should have gone on for two more innings, during which time of course they might have won.
- - December 4, 2022 at 8:58 pm
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  annalim2356
  Participant
  
  I think there is some rules about it. A doubleheader simply means two teams will have a rematch on the same day. Before 2021, both games would have 9 innings like any official one. The regulation was changed to 7 innings due to Covid and then reversed back to 9 once pandemic restrictions became less of a worry.
- - August 2, 2023 at 5:37 am
  - Quote
  ciriacolettiere
  Participant
  
  Mark Astolfi: Wow, this is a roaring hot topic! Altho I see other posts that get zero comments, so what the heck. Maybe I just wasn’t saying it right…it is tricky. The point is, consider a situation where you are only going to make up as many games as are necessary to determine playoff status. And you don’t know whether it will take one game or two. If it would take one game, you’d play 9 innings…if two games, 7 innings. For how many innings do you schedule the first game? And my answer was, since it’s possible you’d need two games, you schedule two games for 7 innings each, then cancel the second game if it’s not necessary. Trouble with that reasoning is, the losing team could argue that since you only played one game, it should have gone on for two more innings, during which time of course they might have won.
  
  I also see a lot of posts here not getting a response. Probably everyone has gone to some other forum.
  
  I like baseball. And I like video library here https://baseballrulesacademy.com/video-library/
  - August 2, 2023 at 9:47 am
    
    Quote
    Mark Astolfi
    Participant
    
    Or baseball is just changing to the point where it isn’t really baseball any more. Used to be fans loved to argue forever over niggling little rule details. Today, they can’t even sit through 10 innings. But it was a great run while it lasted.

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