Suspended game

A suspended game in Major League Baseball occurs when a game has to be stopped before it can be completed. When a game is suspended, the remainder of the game is to be completed at a later date.

Major League Baseball Rule 4.12 describes, in detail, the circumstances under which a game may be suspended. In general, the circumstances are these:
*A curfew imposed by law
*A predetermined time limit
*Artificial light failure or other mechanical problems that impact the game
*Darkness, in certain circumstances
*Weather, in certain circumstances
*A regulation game called with the score tied

The rule goes on to describe special circumstances in which National Association (Minor League Baseball) leagues may suspend games.

The rule also goes on to describe when the game can or must be resumed. Typically, it is to be resumed right before the next scheduled single game of the two clubs, or preceding a doubleheader if there are no single games left on the schedule.

History and oddities

Originally the ability to start and/or continue a baseball game was determined almost entirely by weather, and in fact the rule states that if there are several factors in play, weather overrides the others.

Before artificial lighting was available, games that ran out of sunlight or clear skies were simply called, resulting in ties. There were tied games in three different early World Series (1907, 1912, 1922) as well as some of the 19th Century Series. Called games that ended in ties were simply replayed, if necessary, as with those three World Series games, as well as a famous game in 1908 which was declared a tie because the fans had run onto the field toward the exit gates, thinking the Giants had won the game. This was a common practice at game's end at the Polo Grounds. The game was replayed at the end of the season and became essentially a one-game playoff.

Another famous example would be the 26-inning, 1-1 tie game of May 1, 1920, between the Brooklyn Robins (a.k.a. Dodgers) and the Boston Braves at Braves Field. Under the current rule, the game would have been resumed the next time the two teams were scheduled to meet. The longest professional baseball game was suspended (on agreement of all parties), rather than ending in a tie. The resumed game, with everyone rested, only ran one more inning.

The second-longest games in major league baseball were the 25-inning games of September 11-12, 1974, and May 8-9, 1984. The former game was played continuously, into the early morning hours of the next day, before the St. Louis Cardinals finally defeated the New York Mets, 4-3, at Shea Stadium. The latter game was suspended after 17 innings due to a league-imposed curfew. It was resumed the next day, and Harold Baines ended it with a homer in the 25th inning, as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers at Comiskey Park. In both cases, by rule, the games are recorded under the date on which they started.

With the advent of lights in the 1930s, the need for suspended games arose, for the sake of fairness and to prevent "shenanigans" on the part of the home team.

The rules were expanded over time, to cover other situations. Wrigley Field, which did not acquire lights until August 1988, would sometimes see games called due to darkness. The rule was extended to cover darkness, again in the sense of fairness, as the setting sun was equated to "light failure".

The further extension of the rule to suspend rather than call games interrupted by lengthy rain-showers was also done in part to prevent stalling tactics on the part of the team trailing in the game, if any. Suspending the game took away any such incentive.

Thus, suspended games are much more common since the rules were expanded, and tied games have consequently become much less common, at least at the major league level. An anecdotal example for the Minnesota Twins occurred on Saturday and Sunday, October 2 and 3, 2004. The Saturday game was suspended due to a time limit required by the Metrodome being a shared facility (there was a University of Minnesota football game scheduled that night). That is a typical occurrence during the early part of the college football season at the Metrodome, and usually there is enough time for the baseball game to finish and the field to be prepared for the football game. In this case, the game went into extra innings and was suspended, tied. It was finished before the start of the Sunday scheduled game. However, as per the rules, the suspended game was considered to have occurred on Saturday.

A substantial time between the parts of a suspended game can cause various oddities and debates about questions such as the status of a player's streak of some kind (such as consecutive games played or hit safely), or even the date of a player's "debut" in the major leagues. These kinds of questions were not at issue, of course, before the concept of suspending a game. The rules for substitutions in suspended games "theoretically" contain a loophole that would allow a player to appear on both sides of the box score, if he were traded between teams during the time the game was suspended. This situation could even result in a traded pitcher being credited with both a win and a loss for the game, or with a loss and a save, or with both a save and a blown-save.

A convergence of the Wrigley Field situation and the player-debut situation occurred on the game scheduled for April 20, 1986. [Citation |last= |first= |title=Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs - April 20, 1986 Box Score |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=198604200CHN |accessdate=2007-10-20] The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs were tied at 8 runs apiece after 13 innings when the umpires suspended the game on account of darkness. It was a Sunday game, and the next available slot was August 11. In an exception to the theory that a suspended game is likely to end soon, the game went on for four more innings before the Pirates broke through with a pair in the top of the 17th. Barry Bonds came in as a pinch-hitter in the August 11 portion of the game and stayed in the game as center fielder. Because the game is recorded as April 20, some sources list that date as Bonds' debut. [Citation |last= |first= |title=The 1986 PIT N Regular Season Batting Log for Barry Bonds |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/Ibondb0010011986.htm |accessdate=2007-10-20] However, Bonds' actual debut with the Pirates was May 30. [Citation |last= |first= |title=Player File: Barry Bonds |url=http://mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=111188 |accessdate=2007-10-20]

ee also

*Extra innings

References

External links

* [http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/foreword.jsp Official Rules of Major League Baseball]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2007/04_starting_and_ending_game.pdf MLB Official Rules - Starting and Ending a Game]