Other than the Yankees-Orioles game which ended in a tie two hours ago, when was the last time this has occurred? That’s probably the most interesting thing about today’s game, but nary a mention of it in the article.
Anyone?
Well, last year’s All-Star game ended in a tie. So there’s one.
Tie games in baseball are unusual, but there’s probably one every year, but they happened very frequently before the universal adoption of night baseball, when imending nightfall halted many games. In fact, at least one or two World Series games ended in a tie.
Of course, by “tie,” we mean the game was suspended and never resumed. So, really, the game never ENDS.
The first Cincinnati Reds game of the 2000 season was against the Milwaukee Brewers. These titans took a 3-3 tie into the sixth inning before the skies opened up and washed out the rest of the game.
Since enough baseball had been played to make the game official, it went down in the books as a tie, all the stats counted, and both teams ended up playing 163 contests that year.
Correction: Nix that 163 games thing.
(I was confusing the 2000 season with the Reds’ 1999 season, when they played an extra game, and the Brewers’ 2001, when they also played an extra contest.)
Suspended games are rare. They only happen in situations where the game is halted because of power failures, darkness, or in certain situations when rain halts the game when the road team has taken the lead or tied the game in the top half of an inning and the home team didn’t get to finish its half inning.
Before lights, darkness could be a reason for stopping a game and creating a tie, but that rule was changed after World War II I believe.
Prior to the installation of lights at Wrigley Field, the Cubs would have games suspended because of darkness and then resumed either the next day or sometimes months later.
Note that the Yankees-Orioles game is written off. They will start over in an extra game in New York when the Orioles travel there. (However, the individual stats still count.) If the Orioles had just gone ahead in the bottom of the 5th (which they should have, from what I hear), then it would have been a different situation for them.
If the game is rescheduled, they won’t start at the 6th inning, it will be an entire new game. That’s the part I don’t understand - why do it over?
To quote what I learned in Catholic school, “That’s just the way it is.”
I don’t think they do the do-over unless it could affect the final standing (which it won’t in this case).
I’m with Manduck on this one. It’ll go down either as a tie or a no-decision unless it’s outcome would affect the playoff standings. With the Yankees having already clinched and the O’s out of contention, they might not bother replaying this one. And tie games are replayed from the beginning unless there are super-special circumstances (like George Brett and the pine-tar inceident).
OK, here’s a better explanation. If a game has gone at least five innings and the score is tied and the game ends because of poor weather or wet grounds, it’s a tie.
If a game is stopped because of a power failure, darkness (stadium with no lights), curfew, travel restriction, or because the road team has come from behind to take a lead before an inning is complete, then the game is suspended.
In the case of a tie, the game is supposed to be replayed at the earliest possible date. However, that rule is often ignored. In this case, the Yankees-Orioles game will only be replayed if: 1) it looks like the Yankees might not beat out the Red Sox for the AL East or 2) the Yankees need a win to beat out the Athletics for best record in the AL and homefield advantage. Since Oakland won the season series from the Yankees, the Yankees need to finish at least 1 1/2 games in front of Oakland to claim home field.
Presently, the Yankees are 2 1/2 games better than Oakland.
The last suspended game in the majors was in 2002 when a power failure stopped a game between in Milwaukee between the Brewers and Royals.
In the minor leagues, there are more situations where games are suspended. The same is true of college baseball.
In Japan, tie games are a regular occurrence. Games don’t go past 12 innings. If they are still tied after 12, the game is declared a tie and it is not replayed. Those games do not figure in to a team’s winning percentage.
In the NFL (changing gears a bit), tie games are computed into winning percentage as half of a win and half of a loss.
According to the Yankees site, the game will be made up September 25 or 26, during the last Yankees series of the season (last scheduled game, vs. Orioles, is on the 28th.)
They probably have decided to schedule it just in case they need it, rather than risk having to play on the 28th or maybe 29th.
When they reported the game on the local news, they did indeed say that it would only be made up if it affected playoff standings.
According to the news report, the most likely reason for this would be if the Yankees are still in a close contest with Oakland for home field advantage.