So, I’ve always been a huge baseball fan, right? But the other day, it hit me that I actually had no clue how long college baseball games are. I mean, I know the pro games, MLB, they’re nine innings, but college? No idea. So, I decided to find out.
First, I hit up the web. I was like, “Let’s see what the internet says.” Turns out, most sources were saying that college games are also nine innings, just like the pros. But then, there were these mentions of something called “extra innings.”
I dug a bit deeper. Apparently, if the game is tied after nine innings, they keep playing until someone wins. These are the “extra innings.” And get this, during the regular season, if a game goes into extra innings, starting from the 10th, each team starts their turn at bat with a runner already on second base. Crazy, right? But that’s only during the regular season. In the postseason, it’s back to normal extra innings.
And then I found out about the “mercy rule.” Basically, if one team is crushing the other by 10 or more runs after seven innings, they can just call it a game. Each team must play an equal number of innings unless shortened because the home team needs none or only part of its half of the final inning. It’s like, “Okay, you’re way ahead, let’s just end this.”
Now, about the time. There are no set time limits for college baseball games, which means they can go on for a while. Most of the time, I read that they last around 2.5 to 3 hours. But, if you factor in things like the weather, how many times they change pitchers, and those extra innings, it can vary a lot.
So, I went from knowing nothing to getting a pretty good idea about the length of college baseball games. It’s usually nine innings, but it can go longer with extra innings, and there’s even a mercy rule. And time-wise, it’s generally 2.5 to 3 hours, but that’s not set in stone.
- Started my quest with a simple web search.
- Discovered college games are usually nine innings, like MLB.
- Learned about extra innings and the special rule for the regular season.
- Found out about the mercy rule for those blowout games.
- Realized the time can vary, but it’s usually around 2.5 to 3 hours.
It’s been a fun little journey into the world of college baseball. Who knew there was so much to it? Anyway, I thought I’d share my findings. Maybe it’ll help someone else who’s curious about this stuff.
