TL;DR
- Baseball games cannot end in a tie; extra innings are played to break ties.
- In MLB regular season games, extra innings start with a runner on second base.
- The goal of the runner on second is to shorten the duration of extra innings.
- Playoff games do not use the automatic runner on second base rule in extra innings.
Unlike what happens in other North American leagues, such as the NFL, el empate no es una posibilidad en el béisbol. If there's a tie after the regulation nine innings, the game proceeds to the extra innings.
Within the MLB, this definition includes reglas diferentes en fase regular y Playoffs, which we detail below.
Las reglas de los extra innings en la temporada regular
During the regular season, from año 2020, it was established that any additional entry would automatically begin with a corredor en segunda base . This is, at the start of the top and bottom of the tenth inning or any other inning required to break the tie.
The goal? To make these tie-breakers have a duración menor, by increasing the possibility of scoring runs.
The match will only conclude when a team leads after one of these innings. Should the tie persist, an additional inning will be played, with no limit to the number of extra innings that can be contested.
Reglas extra innings Playoffs
The MLB regular season and Playoffs show a notable distinction concerning extra innings. This difference lies in en postemporada no existe la regla del corredor automático en segunda base.
In other words, the tenth entry—or any other that may be required—se juega de la misma manera than the previous nine, until breaking the tie.