We are into the final week of the 2012 baseball season and it is all set to be a spectacular event which will decide the 2012 Hunlock Series Champions.
One of the new features of this year’s Hunlock Series is the introduction of the “9th Inning Game”. All 18 games scheduled for this final day of the Series will be played over 1 inning only. This will recreate the tension and drama of the ninth inning. 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?
Aspi Dimitrov, Hunlock Series Commissioner, said: “Great Britain National Team player, Adam Roberts, suggested this format and our club has been considering how best to add it to the schedule for a few years now. It is finally here. The excitement and the pressure of the ninth inning comes once a day for MLB managers. Let’s see how the Hunlock Series managers and players will handle 9 ninth innings in one day.”
Dimitrov added: “There is a slight risk that adding these 1-inning games can devalue the earlier games in the Series, but we will have to wait and see how this experiment will play out and how the managers and players will approach it.”
One thing is certain. The Roosters have battled hard to go into the final weekend ahead of the chasing pack and they would not swap their place with anyone, so that alone is sufficient proof that the earlier games are seen as vital in this competition.
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 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 batting order at the end of the previous game will be the official batting lineup for the start of the next game, where the batter who was next to bat, when the game was completed, will be the first batter to bat in the next game.
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Click to view the Games Schedule for Sunday’s deciding games and latest Hunlock Series Standings.