But seriously baseball fans, in a regular season game, isn’t there some set of conditions in which a game can end in a tie? I thought, if curfew is approaching, a new inning cannot be started. Now, often it is possible to resume the game tomorrow. But, if it’s a getaway game (i.e.: end of a series), doesn’t the tie stand?
And, if so, what if this game is critical for the pennant race?
No tie games. If the game can’t be finished for whatever reason, it’s picked up from where it was suspended somewhere down the line.
No cite, but I don’t think there is such a thing as a tie. There may be a “suspended game,” with no winner or loser for the time being. If it turned out to be important to a pennant race, they would have to play the game to completion until there was a winner.
A related question…didn’t the longest major league game ever (IIRC, the 20s game that went 26 innings before darkness fell) end in a 1-1 tie? And if so, was the game resumed at a later date and ultimately concluded?
Tie games in the majors are, with a few exceptions, replayed in their entirety.
The only time a game is suspended and resumed later is if the game is ended prematurely by darkness (not an issue now) or by power failure or mechanical problem (automatic tarp comes out or sprinklers go on) or curfew.
A tie game is declared if a game is ended by weather and at least five innings have been completed.
The only exceptions to this are if the visiting team has taken the lead or tied the game in the top of an inning and the home team hasn’t finished its turn at bat or if the game is stopped after a certain time (I believe it’s 1 am).
Last year, the Padres and D-Backs had a suspended game when a transformer blew in San Diego and knocked out a bank of lights. They resumed the following afternoon. I believe Randy Johnson relieved Curt Schilling and set a “relief” record for strikeouts.
The Brewers had a suspended game last year also because of a lighting problem.
The longest game (by innings) in MLB history was on May 1, 1920 when the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves played a 1-1 tie at Braves Field. Both pitchers threw all 26 innings.
The game should have been made up the next time the two teams played in Boston.
May 1 was a Saturday. At that time, you couldn’t play on Sundays in Boston, so the Dodgers went back home and played Philadelphia on Sunday. The Dodgers lost that game 4-3 in 13 innings.
On Monday the Dodgers went back to Boston to finish their series with the Braves. I presume there was a doubleheader scheduled.
However, on that day the Braves beat the Dodgers 2-1 in 19 innings.
That’s 58 innings in 3 days.
The Dodgers didn’t go back to Boston until June 25-26.
Brooklyn won the pennant by 7 games that year and only played 153 games and only 152 to a result (93-61).
Boston only had 153 games played that year as well.
I’m not sure what the SOP at the time was but it could have been that the tie game wasn’t going to be replayed unless it would have had a bearing on the pennant race. Or it could have been replayed and the Dodgers and Braves just had a subsequent rainout.
Also on ties, they are fairly common in Japan. One league only plays 12 innings and the other 15. The league that declares ties after 12 (the Pacific League) doesn’t replay the games either. The other league (the Central League) does try to replay them.
Since we may have the eminent BobT’s attention–and I mean this in all sincerity, he is the best sports authority I have ever read–may I ask a follow-up question?
Wasn’t Willie Mays part of a famous delayed or called game at the end of one season? I recall reading that he was on deck, and the pitcher delayed the game in an effort to prevent him coming to bat, and the game was called either on grounds of darkness or weather. Mays was potentially one at bat away from capturing some sort of title that year, if I don’t have the story completely wrong.
Sorry, I know that’s pretty vague, but if anyone can pull that scruffy rabbit out of the hat, it’s the SDMB sports aficionados.
Just as a side note: while BobT is correct in that tie games are replayed, the tie game itself count for players’ statistics, and the game played is counted as a tie game.
It used to be far more common before lights were put in the stadiums in the 30s and 40s. As proof, I point you to Lou Gehrig’s career stats. He played in every game from 1926-1938. The season, in those times, was 154 games long. Yet, in seven of those seasons, he played 155 (1926, 1927, 1931, 1936), 156 (1932) or 157 (1937, 1938) games. Those extra games are tie games that counted.
Zev Steinhardt
The Los Angeles Dodgers almost had that beat. They were set to play a three game weekend series with the Expos(?) about ten years ago when the L.A. riots broke out. The entire series was cancelled and it was decided that they would play three double headers in a row the next time the Expos came to town. I believe that they were allowed slightly larger rosters so that they’d have enough pitchers to do this.
That was 54 innings in 3 days.
Haj
The 1928 Boston Braves played 9 consecutive doubleheaders. From 9/4 through 9/15. They had off days on 9/6, 9/9, and 9/12.
During that stretch they played eight games at home against New York. And they lost all eight.
Of the 18 games played in that stretch, the Braves only won 4.
The 1928 Braves finished 50-103 and 44 1/2 games behind first place St. Louis. But they weren’t last. Philadelphia was 43-109.
It wasn’t a good year for the city of Boston. The Red Sox finished 57-96.
If the refs don’t understand the curfew rules, then you end up with this game. Finally suspended at 4 in the morning after 32 innings and resumed later. Note some of the people involved: Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken etc. (Cal had 15 plate appearances.) Some of the radio announcer clips from this game are amazing. In the 20-somethingth inning, one announcer was running down what the batter had done at previous at bats (“Struck out in the 1st, walked in the fourth, …”) while you can hear the other announcer cracking up.
Only if Selig had the nerve last week…