Suspended game

Following the 2008 World Series, MLB adopted a change that now requires all postseason games to be played to completion (at least nine innings); situations where inclement weather might otherwise end a game early now result in a postseason game being suspended and resumed.[2] This policy appears as a "Comment" with Rule 7.02(a) in the Official Baseball Rules, and also applies to any potential tie-breaker games at the end of the regular season.[1]

For the shortened 2020 season, MLB broadened the use of suspended games for the regular season as well, essentially avoiding situations where a game would need to be restarted from the beginning; this broadened use of suspended games during the regular season was carried over to 2021,[3] and was made a permanent part of the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2022.[4]

That events in a suspended game are considered (with regards to baseball statistics) to have occurred on the original game date, can create unusual situations. For example, it can result in a player having statistics from games that pre-date when he joined a team or first played in MLB. An example of this occurred with first baseman Vince Shupe in 1945. Shupe played in his first major league game on July 7 with the Boston Braves,[8] and later played in the resumption of a suspended game on August 4.[9] As the suspended game had started on June 17, Shupe has major league statistics that carry the date of that game, from weeks before he joined the Braves.[10]

Having a game suspended can leave in question the status of a player's streak of some kind, such as a hitting streak or consecutive games played without committing an error. Additionally, the rules for substitutions in suspended games could allow a player to make an appearance for both teams in the same game, if he were traded between teams during the time that the game was suspended. This could potentially result in what would otherwise be statistically impossible situations for a pitcher, such as being credited with both a loss and a save in the same game.[lower-alpha 3] However, such scenarios around a traded player have not occurred in Major League Baseball to date.

An unusual suspended game occurred as a result of the "pine tar incident" on July 24, 1983. George Brett had apparently hit a home run for a 5–4 lead for his Kansas City Royals over the New York Yankees. When the home run was initially disallowed and Brett declared out due to too much pine tar on his bat, this apparently marked the game's final out and ended play with the Yankees apparently winning 4–3. A successful protest to American League president Lee McPhail reinstated the home run and negated the out, but as play had long since ended it became a suspended game. The suspended game was resumed on August 18, 1983, and it was completed uneventfully, with the 5–4 Royals' lead holding up for a win.[11][12]

On April 20, 1986, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs were tied at 8–8 after 13 innings when the umpires suspended the game, being played at Wrigley Field (which still lacked lights), on account of darkness.[13] It was a Sunday game, and the next available slot was August 11. The game went on for four more innings before the Pirates broke through with two runs 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 the center fielder. Because all statistics of the game are recorded as having occurred on April 20, some sources list that date as Bonds' MLB debut,[14] even though Bonds' actual debut with the Pirates was May 30.[15]

An unusual suspended game involving the Minnesota Twins occurred on Saturday and Sunday, October 2 and 3, 2004. The Twins' Saturday game against the Cleveland Indians was suspended due to a time limit required by the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome being a shared facility: there was a Minnesota Golden Gophers football game scheduled for that evening.[16] This was not an unusual occurrence during the early part of the college football season at the Metrodome, and usually there was enough time for the baseball game to finish and the field to be prepared for the football game. However, in this case, the game went into extra innings and was suspended with the score tied. It was finished before the start of the Sunday scheduled game.[17]

Ken Griffey Jr. is credited with reaching base for two different teams in games played on April 28, 2008.

The game of April 28, 2008, between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox, was suspended at the end of the 11th inning, tied 3–3, and not resumed until August 25.[18] This created several statistical oddities. Outfielder Lou Montanez, who was called up to the majors that season on August 5, got a hit in the resumed portion of the game, thus crediting him with his first MLB career hit months before being called up.[19] Pitcher Alberto Castillo recorded his first career victory in that game, in spite of not making his MLB debut until July 8.[20] And Ken Griffey Jr., who walked for the White Sox in the resumed portion of the game,[18] had gone 2-for-4 in a National League game played on April 28 while still a member of the Cincinnati Reds,[21] thus statistically reaching base for two different teams on the same day.[22]

On October 27, 2008, in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays, continuing rain forced the Commissioner's office to suspend the game. The break in the action occurred between the top and bottom of the sixth inning, with the score tied at 2–2. This was the first suspended game in the history of the World Series. There had been three tied games previously: 1907, 1912, and 1922. Since 2009, all postseason games that are stopped due to weather are considered suspended regardless of the score or how many innings were played prior to the suspension; the first game to be affected by that rule was Game 1 of the 2011 American League Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees, which started on September 30, but was suspended after two innings because of rain and was resumed the following evening.

In 2009, Joel Hanrahan had to wait until July 9 to earn the win in a game that he had pitched in on May 5.

A unique situation occurred on July 9, 2009, when the Washington Nationals traveled to Houston to face the Astros in a game that had been suspended on May 5, in the bottom of the 11th inning, in Washington. Joel Hanrahan had pitched the top of the 11th for Washington, and in the interim had been traded to Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan; he remained the pitcher of record and earned the win when Morgan scored (he pinch-ran for Elijah Dukes, who was no longer on the Washington roster) on a throwing error by Miguel Tejada. It was the first walk-off victory for a team in an opposing stadium since 1975.[23]

On August 31, 2014, the Cleveland Indians were playing the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium with the score tied, 2–2, at the end of regulation. As inclement weather began to approach, officials attempted to finish the game and were able to complete the top half of the tenth with the Indians taking a two-run advantage, 4–2. But before beginning the bottom, the game was suspended due to the weather. The resumption of the game took place on September 22 at Progressive Field because of scheduling; neither team had an off day that coincided with the other and this was their final series match-up of the season. The Royals scored one run in the inning and lost, 4–3, as the "home" team completing the game in their opponent's ballpark.

On June 18, 2018, the Yankees and the Nationals resumed a game suspended by rain on May 15 at Nationals Park with the score tied, 3–3. Nationals rookie Juan Soto pinch hit in the bottom of the 6th inning and hit a two-run homer. Soto's major league debut was on May 20, so officially he hit a home run five days before his debut. Technically, it was also a home run in his first official at-bat, even though he already had five home runs.[24]

On September 6, 2019, the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers completed a suspended game at the Oakland Coliseum. The original game took place on May 19, the finale of the Athletics' only visit to Detroit of the season. The league scheduled the resumption during the Tigers' visit to Oakland in order to avoid having the Athletics make a return trip to Detroit. Due to the long gap, both teams had to replace several players in the game who were no longer on their rosters, including Detroit's Josh Harrison, who was at bat when the original game was suspended but had since been released. Jake Diekman pitched the eighth inning for Oakland; this appearance was recorded to have occurred on May 19, when Diekman was actually a member of the Kansas City Royals and pitched in their game against the Los Angeles Angels. Diekman thus holds a rare distinction of having pitched for two teams (Royals and Athletics) on the same day.[25][26]

A game between the Miami Marlins and New York Mets started on April 11, 2021, at Citi Field in New York was suspended after just nine pitches, due to rain.[3] Historically, such an occurrence would have resulted in the game being restarted from the beginning at a later date; however, MLB expanded the use of suspended games during the 2020 regular season and carried over the policy to the 2021 season as well.[3] With only one out recorded in the game at the point it was suspended, it set a new major-league record for the earliest point at which a contest was suspended; the prior record had been six outs,[27] occurring during a game at Miller Park on June 15, 2001, due to a lighting failure.[28] The Marlins and Mets completed their suspended game on August 31, with the Mets prevailing, 6–5.[29] The 142 days between suspension and resumption set a record for the largest gap in major-league history, the record previously having been 126 days, for a 1995 game between the Braves and Marlins.[30]

A game between the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals on July 17, 2021, at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., was suspended after gunshots were heard outside the park.[31] The game was resumed the following day and completed without further incident.[32]

A game on September 28, the Thursday before the end of the regular season, between the Marlins and Mets was suspended with two outs in the 9th inning due to rain after three hours of rain delay, with the Marlins leading 2–1, having scored their two runs in the top of the 9th inning. This game was crucial for the Marlins as they were in a playoff chase for the wild card, including the fifth seed, and was tentatively scheduled for resumption on Monday, October 2, though was ultimately not resumed due to the Marlins clinching the fifth seed and the resumption being rendered moot. The game was ultimately rolled back to the score at the end of the eighth inning with the Mets being awarded a 1-0 victory.