Extra Innings

Photo by Daniel Millhouse of Seattle Mariners infield

Unlike many other sports, Major League Baseball has never settled for a tie game in regulation or postseason play. It's just not done. It's not baseball and it's not American. Baseball fans do not accept ties like fans of soccer, hockey, and even NFL football after a quarter of overtime.

With the Yankees versus the Cubs game that aired on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball going 18 innings, there was discussion amongst even the broadcasters that the MLB should not allow games to go so long.

Suggestions have been made in recent years to prevent baseball games from going past 12 innings. The MLB also tested the idea of putting runners on first and second with no outs beginning in the 11th inning of a game. This was done during the World Baseball Classic this year to hasten the end of a game.

In the Nippon Professional Baseball League (Japan), the KBO League (Korea), and the Chinese Professional Baseball League, all games are to be considered a draw if there is no winner after 12 innings. In postseason play, this extends to fifteen innings. What's worse is that the games have a time limit of three and a half hours. While their games are fun to watch, there's still the feeling of being let down when one of their games ends in a tie.

For those that remember, the 2002 MLB All-Star game ended in a tie, causing outrage amongst the fans that paid hundreds of dollars to be at the game and amongst those watching on television who were hoping to watch the best players in the game play.

The thing is that games going into extra innings contain even more drama as the game goes on. Every error, every base hit, every ball, could cost or earn a team a win. Why limit this drama with a time limit? Or an innings limit?

Let's use the Yankees versus Cubs game as example. Going 18 innings deep, we got to see the MLB record for strikeouts in a single game be broken.

Relief pitcher Chasen Shreve got a chance to bat for the first time in his professional career.

Pitchers Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, and John Lackey were used as pitch-hitters after the Cubs ran out of healthy position players to play.

Kyle Schwarber diving over the brick wall and into the stands to catch a ball in the 12th inning.

Cubs players developed new forms of rally motivators beyond the "rally caps". This included rally helmets, sprinkling the field with gum and sunflower seeds, players wearing catchers masks, and eventually players wearing helmets backwards.

The umpires running out of baseballs, causing the Cubs equipment manager to open up a new box of baseballs.

Is this normal? No, obviously not. What it is though is a storied moment for the fans and players alike. It's a moment that people will remember for years to come, unlike a game that last nine innings and may be one of many that a fan or player is part of. It gives the game character and that feeling that anything can happen.

Is a game that ends in a tie or comes to an end due to time limits as memorable as an 18 inning game? Of course not.

Leave baseball the way it is and stop trying to change it. Baseball is not a game that should be "clocked" or limited. There should be no ties. Baseball is a game that should have clear winner at the end of the day and should not leave the fan feeling gypped when a game ends in a tie.