Bowie Baysox Ripped Off

Image via WikipediaThis will probably come across as a little bit of sour grapes, but being a rule of law guy here goes.  I have mentioned many times here that my family and I are huge Bowie Baysox fans.  As the baseball season was drawing to a close, the Baysox were in the hunt for a playoff spot.  Going into yesterday's games, the Baysox needed to win their final game of the season, but needed the Altoona Curve to defeat the Richmond Flying Squirrels in order to make the playoffs.

For those that are not familiar with the game of baseball, a game typically consists of nine innings played.  In the event of a tie at the end of nine innings, they do play extra innings.  However, their are occasions when a game can be shortened due to rain or other circumstances.  In order for a game to be considered official, at least five innings need to be played.  There are other rules that govern when a game is considered official.

In baseball, the visiting team bats first and the home team bats second.  If the home team is ahead after the visiting team has their final set of at bats, they do not bat.  In the event of a rain shortened game, if the visiting team scores runs in the top half of an inning, the home team has to have an opportunity to take their turn at bat to have the opportunity to win the game.  In other words, each team should have the same number of at bats, unless the home team is ahead.

That brings me to the point of my rant today.  Both the Baysox game and the Richmond game were shortened yesterday due to rain.  In the case of the Baysox, they were the home team in their game.  Going into the final inning, the Baysox were ahead in their game 3-1.  The visiting team scored one run in the top of the inning making the game 3-2 when the rains came halting play.  The game was called due to the rain and the Baysox got the victory.

In the case of the Richmond/Altoona game, Richmond was the visiting team and Altoona the home team.  The score was tied 1-1 going into the top of the 8th inning.  Richmond took a 2-1 lead in the 8th inning when the rain started and halted the game.  It was determined that Richmond was the winner of the game, even though baseball's rules would dictate that Altoona would need to bat in order for the game to be considered official.

Now it is very likely that Richmond would have managed to hold on and win the game anyway to secure their spot in the playoffs.  Had the game not had any importance in terms of the teams that would make the playoffs, it would probably not be that big of a deal to me that it was decided that Richmond was the victor in this case.  However, I can not help but feel that my Bowie Baysox were royally ripped off in this case.