Baseball and Softball
Baseball and softball are not true sudden-death sports, but they have one comparable situation.
Baseball and softball games cannot end until both teams have had an equal number of turns at bat, unless further play (by the home team if they lead after 8 1/2 innings) cannot affect the outcome. In the final scheduled inning (typically, the ninth), if the visitors complete their turn at bat and still trail the hosts, the game ends. If the visitors lead or the game is tied, the hosts take their "last ups" at bat. If the hosts should exceed the visitors' score, the game ends at the conclusion of the play on which the hosts take this insurmountable lead. (If the final scheduled inning ends in a tie, multiple extra innings are played with the same implications as the final scheduled inning.)
The ability to bat last is an advantage of being the home team. It is said that "visitors must play to win; hosts need only play to tie" because tying forces an extra inning.
A tied game in the bottom of the final scheduled inning puts pressure on the visitors. For example, with a runner on third base and fewer than two outs, the visitors cannot afford even to get certain types of out that would let the game-ending run score after the out.
A scoring play that ends the game is called a walk-off, because after the runner scores the winning run everyone can walk off the field. A walk-off home run is an exception to the rule stated above; the game does not end when the winning run scores, but continues until the batter and all runners score (provided they run the bases correctly).
Read more about this topic: Sudden Death (sport)
Famous quotes containing the words baseball and and/or baseball:
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