We are into the final week of the 2013 baseball season and it is all set to be a spectacular event which will decide the 2013 Hunlock Series Champions.
In 2012 the Hunlock Series introduced the “9th Inning Game” and it proved to be a big success so it is back again for the final week of this year’s Series. All 20 games scheduled for this final day of the Series will be played over 1 inning only. Tension and drama are guaranteed. Can the teams manufacture the all important go-ahead run? Can they deliver the walk-off hits? Can the pitchers and defence execute with the game on the line?
The excitement and the pressure of the ninth inning comes once a day for MLB managers. How will the Hunlock Series managers and players handle and approach 8 ninth innings in one day.
The Black Widows lead in the standings and have a very strong roster, however the other four teams will know that they will need to put their ace pitchers on the mound against the Black Widows in order to give themselves the best chance of catching up with the leaders. That means that the Black Widows are going to have to pick up wins against first-round-draft-pick pitchers which will be a big test.
These 9th-inning-games will be played just like the ninth inning of any MLB game. There are however a few special rules which will apply this Sunday, mainly dealing with the transition from one game to the next and aiming to ensure that managers are not taking unfair advantage. Here are the special rules which will apply to the 9th-inning-games:
• During the 9th-inning-games each game will last one inning only.
• The game ends when 3 outs are recorded in the bottom of the inning or when the home team takes the lead, whichever occurs first.
• If 3 outs are recorded in the bottom of the inning and the game is tied, each team is awarded half a win.
• The batting order of each team remains unchanged for the duration of the day unless a substitution is made.
• A substituted player cannot re-enter the same game, however that player can re-enter a subsequent game.
• The batter who was next to bat upon completion of the previous game will be the first batter in the next game with the rest of the batting lineup coming up to bat in order.
The organisers have made minor amendments to the games schedule for the final week so that the first and second placed teams meet in the final game of the day. Of course with 8 games for each team, the standings could look very different by the time we play the final game of the Series.
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