Rubber match

[Casey1505]

I know it’s the deciding game in a series, but what does it mean?

[Ice_Wolf]

From this page:

The term “rubber match” or “rubber game” can refer to the deciding game of a series of any length, not just three games. Game Seven of a World Series is an example. The term was borrowed from the card game bridge. In bridge, when the two sides have split the first two games, the third and deciding game has always been called the rubber game. The translation to baseball was easy, since most regular-season series are three games long.

[Casey1505]

deciding game has always been called the rubber game

I still don’t get it. What does it mean? What does rubber have to do with anything?

[Ice_Wolf]

Merriam-Webster has the etymology of “rubber” as in bridge games as unknown.

Main Entry: rubber
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1599
1 : a contest consisting of an odd number of games won by the side that takes a majority (as two out of three)
2 : an odd game played to determine the winner of a tie

[Ice_Wolf]

This from Word Detective:

Unfortunately, no one knows where “rubber” in this sense came from. It appears to be unrelated to the elastic sort of “rubber.” (Incidentally, our modern elastic “rubber” is short for “India-rubber,” from its original source in the East Indies. “Rubber” previously meant anything used to rub, smooth or clean.) Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ventures that the term may have referred to two “bowls” rubbing together, a fatal error in the game of bowls. Or it might be a metaphorical use of “rubber” (something that expunges) referring to the “sudden death” third game of a series, the loss of which would conclusively “rub out” the losing team’s hopes. But there is, sad to say, no solid evidence for either theory.

In short – no one’s sure, sorry.

[RealityChuck]

To clarify, a bridge match was known, for whatever reason, as a “rubber.” You play your opponenent, and when you score 100 points, you’ve won a game. Best two-out-of-three is a rubber.

If both sides win a game apiece, the final game determines the winner of the rubber. Thus, the rubber match.

BTW, rubber bridge is played socially, but for tournaments they play duplicate bridge. Same game rules, but it’s set up so that all teams in the tournament play the same hands (You deal out the hands, but do not reshuffle the cards when its done, and put each player’s cards into a separate tray for each hand). The goal is to eliminate luck – you can’t win by getting a few good hands. Scoring is determined by seeing who did the best with each set of cards.