Baseball Innings (2024)

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Unlike many other sports, baseball games are not contained by a clock or any form of measurable time. Instead, baseball games consist of innings. Each inning has a top half and a bottom half.There are nine innings in a baseball game used to decide the winning team.

• How Many Innings Are Played in an MLB Game?
• How Do Innings Work?
• Top of the Inning
• Middle of the Inning
• Bottom of the Inning
• Ninth Inning
• Extra Innings
• Rainouts
• Youth League Innings
• Related Terms
• Summary
• FAQ

How Many Innings Are Played in an MLB Game?

In MLB games, a total of nine innings are played.However, if a game is tied after these nine innings, the game will go to extra innings. Additionally, if the home team has the lead after the top of the ninth has ended, the game will end without the bottom of the ninth being played. This is because it would be the home team’s turn to bat, and they already have the lead, so there is no need for the bottom of the ninth to be played.

How Do Innings Work?

Innings have two parts, which are called half-innings. The first is called the “top”of the inning, while the second is called the “bottom.”In each half-inning, one team is at bat while the other team is fielding. At the end of each half-inning, the teams switch roles on the field; the batting team becomes the fielding team, and vice versa.A team can only score when it is their turn to bat; they cannot score while fielding. Half-innings end when the fielding team records three outs.

Every baseball game has a home team and an away team, unless they are playing on neutral ground, making them both away teams. In that case, the home team is designated by mutual agreement.The away team alwaysbats in the first half-inning (the top of each inning) while the home team bats second.

Top of the Inning

The first part of each inning is the top of the inning, or top-half.In baseball, the away team always bats at the top of the inning, while the home team bats at the bottom of the inning. When three outs are made, the top half of the inning is over, and the teams switch fielding and batting.

Middle of the Inning

The middle of the inning is the transition period between the top and bottom half.For MLB games, the middle of the inning is twominutes and 25 seconds long for locally-televised games, or twominutes and 45 seconds long for nationally-televised games.During the middle of the inning, players grab their gear, such as their hats and gloves, for fielding. Catchers have a particularly tough time between innings if they were left stranded on base, as they’ll have to quickly get back to the dugout and put on their protective gear.

Bottom of the Inning

The second part of each inning is called the bottom of the inning, or the bottom-half, for short. The home team is always at bat during the bottom-half, while the away team is fielding. When three outs are made, the bottom of the inning is over. Hitting at the bottom of each inning is baseball’s version of home-field advantage, as the home team will get the last chance to score runs before a game is over.

Ninth Inning

In baseball, the ninth inning is the last inning of the game. Sometimes, the bottom of the ninth inning is not played, or ends before three outs are made. The game is over, and play will end immediately in the ninth inning if:

1. The home team is in the lead at the end of the top-half of the ninth inning.
2. The home team is behind or tied with the away team at the end of the top-half of the ninth inning, and then scores enough points to take the lead before earning three outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
3. The away team is in the lead at the end of the ninth inning after three outs have been recorded in the bottom half of the inning.

Extra Innings

If the score is tied at the end of the ninth inning, teams will play extra innings until a winner is decided. Baseball is unlike other sports in that it doesn’t use sudden death overtime to determine the winner. Instead, both teams get a chance to bat during their extra half-innings to earn runs for their team. In recent years, the MLB has adopted a policy that places a runner at second base when the half inning starts in extra innings.

Rainouts

In order for a baseball game to be considered an “official” game, at least five full innings must be played.Therefore, if a game is rained-out or postponed before the fifth inning ends, it must be resumed at a later date, but games that go at least five innings will not be replayed if they are stopped after that point and one team is ahead.

Youth League Innings

In youth baseball leagues, games usually last six innings or less. Baseball games can often take hours to finish, so youth leagues generally don’t play nine innings. More often than not, youth leagues will play through six innings or to a specific amount of time elapsed.Many youth leagues also have “mercy rules,” which state that a team will automatically win the game if they are ahead by a certain number of runs (such as 10) during the middle of the game.

• Half-Innings
• Top-Half
• Bottom-Half
• Top of the Inning
• Bottom of the Inning
• Middle of the Inning
• Extra Innings
• Seven Inning Stretch
• Outs

Summary

• Baseball is a game played in nine innings.
• Innings are composed of two parts called the top-half and bottom-half.
• The away team always bats first, at the top of each inning.
• The home team always bats second,at the bottom of each inning.
• The teams switch at the end of each half-inning once three outs are made.
• Theoretically, a baseball game can last forever. The game doesn’t always last nine innings.
• If the game is tied at the end of nine innings, extra innings will be played until a team holds the lead at the end of an inning.

FAQ

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