# Why can't baseball teams tie? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 26, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949 "2008-04-26T07:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/21 "2008-04-27T04:09:02Z")
Didn’t you see _A League of Their Own_? “There’s no tying in baseball!” ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/22 "2008-04-27T16:59:53Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Not any more. Such games are now considered suspended games and are replayed from the point of interruption. However, if such a game occurred at the last meeting of the season between two teams, and didn’t matter in the standings, it would never be finished. So there can still be ties in baseball, but they will be inordinately rare. [/QUOTE] Let me find a cite. The only time a game is suspended is if play is halted in the middle of an inning (after the 5th) and the visiting team has either tied the score or taken the lead, and the home team has not completed its half of an inning. Otherwise (after 5) the game is complete, and the winner wins. If the score is tied, it is a tie game with the stats counting.. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/23 "2008-04-27T18:16:57Z")
There used to be a curfew in the AL, but that rule has since been dispensed with. Teams will play until the cows come home. However, if a game is delayed by rain after 1 am, the umpires will suspend the game. There used to be more curfews because teams had to catch a train or plane to get somewhere, but with all teams flying charters now, those have disappeared. The ties in Japanese baseball aren’t because the Japanese want tie games or feel they are more humane. They’re a matter of being practical since about 95% of all fans at a game in Japan gets there on public transportation and trains/subways/buses don’t run much after midnight in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/24 "2008-04-27T18:31:51Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Um, what? [/QUOTE] A tie. It’s like kissing your sister. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/25 "2008-04-27T19:25:16Z")
[QUOTE=SSG Schwartz] I seem to recall a Braves Independence Day doubleheader in which the first game had several rain delays and went to extra innings and game two started about 2:30am. Really there was only a handful of fans left at 6 am 5 July to see the fireworks show scheduled for the conclusion of game 2. [/QUOTE] What you remember was a single game (no doubleheader, but two contests’ worth of action) which went 19 innings. [The year was 1985.](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:JccfZkt1VBIJ:www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/July_4+Braves+fireworks+morning+doubleheader+Rick+Camp&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us) Although the Braves lost, their pitcher Rick Camp (who had a .060 lifetime average but was forced to bat because no position players were left on the bench) provided the highlight when he hit his first major-league homer to reknot the score in the eighteenth, only to surrender five runs in the next frame and get tagged with the loss. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/26 "2008-04-27T21:36:58Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The 2003 All-Star game was a bad decision, but I don’t know if there was a good one. There were no players left to play the game. Do you let a pitcher possibly wreck his arm for an exhibition game? Do you change the substitution rule to allow a player who has left the game to go back on the field (the purists would have hated that, too)? Do you set up some sort of home run derby or other contest at the last minute to decide the winner? The managers and players agreed with the decision – would they have continued even if the commissioner had orders some ad hoc answer? [/QUOTE] They could have just played it out under the existing rules of baseball, which would mean that one team would eventually forfeit when they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, put nine men on the field. What they shouldn’t have done is cancel all the post-game ceremonies, not award the MVP, and slink out of the ballpark like thieves in the night, but that’s what they did. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/27 "2008-04-27T22:54:03Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The 2003 All-Star game was a bad decision, but I don’t know if there was a good one. There were no players left to play the game. Do you let a pitcher possibly wreck his arm for an exhibition game? Do you change the substitution rule to allow a player who has left the game to go back on the field (the purists would have hated that, too)? Do you set up some sort of home run derby or other contest at the last minute to decide the winner? The managers and players agreed with the decision – would they have continued even if the commissioner had orders some ad hoc answer? I’d like to see suggestions on how those who hate the idea would have ended it, given the fact that no players were available. [/QUOTE] Each pitcher in the game had pitched two innings when the game was halted. Cy Young used to pitch both ends of a doubleheader. Asking modern pitchers who have access to top conditioning methods and who make millions per year to pitch a few more innings is not too much to ask. That is what irritated the fans the most. Here you have well-conditioned athletes playing a kid’s game for a great living and they can’t be asked to complete the game because they might hurt themselves by overextending. It was bogus then and now. If it was a bunch of guys playing an exhibition softball game in Podunk, Middle America, they would compete until it was over even if it killed them. That is baseball, but these guys today had to be up early in the morning to run to the bank and cash another six figure paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/28 "2008-04-27T23:50:38Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] Each pitcher in the game had pitched two innings when the game was halted. Cy Young used to pitch both ends of a doubleheader. [/quote] Oh, please. Cy Young pitched in 1902, not 2002. Pitching was different – you could pace yourself – and Young wasn’t expected to hit 90+ mph on his fastball, nor did he have to worry about someone taking a bad pitch out of the park. A great pitcher, but the game was different then. > [@](#): > > Asking modern pitchers who have access to top conditioning methods and who make millions per year to pitch a few more innings is not too much to ask. The players themselves – who, after all, know their own limitations and conditioning routines – didn’t see a problem ending it. What exactly do you know about how the players go about conditioning? Have you ever tried to follow a regimen like theirs? > [@](#): > > It was bogus then and now. If it was a bunch of guys playing an exhibition softball game in Podunk, Middle America, they would compete until it was over even if it killed them. That is baseball, but these guys today had to be up early in the morning to run to the bank and cash another six figure paycheck. If you think it’s so easy playing MLB, you do it. A bunch of guys playing an exhibition softball game aren’t pros. If they hurt themselves, they can go back to their day jobs and continue with their careers. If a baseball player is injured, then he’s no good to the team (BTW, see “Dizzy Dean” if you’re so gung ho on ballplayers going all out in All-Star Games). If Padilla blew out a rotator cuff pitching an extra inning, do you really think the Phillies fans would have loved paying his salary until he got better? Everyone complains that ballplayers get too much money, but I’ve never heard a fan say “Well, our team is in the cellar again, but at least they kept the payroll down.” ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/29 "2008-04-28T01:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] Let me find a cite. The only time a game is suspended is if play is halted in the middle of an inning (after the 5th) and the visiting team has either tied the score or taken the lead, and the home team has not completed its half of an inning. [/quote] See [Changes to Official Baseball Rules, 2007 playing season](http://pressbox.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/rule_changes_021607.pdf) (pdf). > [@](#): > > 1. Rule 4.10(d) has been amended so that a regulation game called with the score tied now becomes a suspended game. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/30 "2008-04-28T01:36:45Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] See [Changes to Official Baseball Rules, 2007 playing season](http://pressbox.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/rule_changes_021607.pdf) (pdf). [/QUOTE] My ignorance fought. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/31 "2008-04-28T16:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Manduck] A tie is like kissing your sister because it’s better than losing (i.e., better than no kiss at all), but it’s not as good as winning (i.e. not as good as kissing somebody fuckable). [/QUOTE] That’s it. According to Wiki, “The earliest known use of the phrase was by Navy football coach Eddie Erdelatz after a scoreless tie against Duke in 1953.” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/32 "2008-04-28T16:31:22Z")
[QUOTE=Manatee] Didn’t you see _A League of Their Own_? “There’s no tying in baseball!” [/QUOTE] I thought it was “There’s no girls in baseball!” _Mr. Baseball_ had Tom Selleck complaining “A baseball game can’t end in a tie!” ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/33 "2008-04-28T16:37:07Z")
I think the real question is, “Why the hell would anyone else allow ties?” ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/34 "2008-04-28T19:08:12Z")
The umpires used to wear ties sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/35 "2008-04-28T20:02:41Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] That’s it. According to Wiki, “The earliest known use of the phrase was by Navy football coach Eddie Erdelatz after a scoreless tie against Duke in 1953.” [/QUOTE] I wonder what his sister thought about that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/36 "2008-04-28T20:10:02Z")
She probably punched him in the nose when she saw him at Thanksgiving. He was fit to be tied. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/37 "2008-04-29T01:13:24Z")
And the new rule comes into play–the Orioles and White Sox, suspended after 11 innings today. Before 2007 it would have been a tie. As it is, it will get picked up in the 12th inning, probably in Baltimore in August . . . when half the rosters will have changed! ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/38 "2008-04-30T00:41:50Z")
I think the worst thing about extra inning games is that they stop selling beer some time near the 8th inning. I really can’t imagine surviving a 21 inning game under those circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/39 "2008-04-30T02:12:10Z")
I think most games that can end in a tie have a clock. Baseball has no clock, therefore no ties. But the answer to the OP’s question, of couse, is because IT’S BASEBALL!!! ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949/40 "2008-04-30T15:46:28Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] And the new rule comes into play–the Orioles and White Sox, suspended after 11 innings today. Before 2007 it would have been a tie. As it is, it will get picked up in the 12th inning, probably in Baltimore in August . . . when half the rosters will have changed! [/QUOTE] That was an issue in the NBA this year, when the Heat lost Shaquille O’Neal after a game was suspended, but before the make-up date. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-baseball-teams-tie/446949.md?page=1)