|
The record for the most innings ever played in a single professional game is 33, occurring in a minor-league game in 1981. (Many more details on this game can be found here.) The longest game by innings in Major League Baseball was a 1鈥? tie in the National League between the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers in 26 innings, at Braves Field in Boston on May 1, 1920. It had become too dark to see the ball (fields did not have lights yet and the sun was setting), and the game was considered a draw.
The longest American League game, and tied for the longest major league game by innings which ended with one team winning, was a 7鈥? victory by the Chicago White Sox over the Milwaukee Brewers in 25 innings, at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1984. The game was begun at 7:30 p.m. on the evening of May 8, and after scoring early runs both teams scored twice in the 8th inning; but the game was suspended after 17 innings with the score tied 3鈥? due to a league rule prohibiting an inning from beginning after 12:59 a.m. The game was continued the following evening, May 9, and both teams scored three times in the 21st inning to make the score 6鈥?; finally, in the bottom of the 25th, the White Sox' Harold Baines hit a home run to end the contest. Tom Seaver was the winning pitcher in relief. (A regularly scheduled game followed, meaning both nights saw 17 innings played; Seaver also started, and won, the second game.) The official time of the entire 25鈥慽nning game was 8 hours 6 minutes, also a major league record. [1]
On September 11, 1974, the St. Louis Cardinals won a marathon night game against the New York Mets, after seven hours four minutes, and 25 innings, also tied for the longest game to a decision in major league history. Two Mets errors led to the Cardinals' winning run, starting with an errant pickoff throw that allows Bake McBride to scamper all the way around from first. St. Louis won, 4鈥?. The Mets went to the plate 103 times, a record in a major league game; the Cards were not far behind with 99 plate appearances. All told, a record 175 official at-bats were recorded, with a major-league record 45 runners stranded. Only a thousand fans were left on hand at Shea Stadium when the game ended at 3:13 a.m. ET. This was the longest game played to a decision without a suspension.[2]
The longest major league postseason game was an 18鈥慽nning contest played between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros on October 9, 2005. In the fourth game of a National League Division Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, the Braves (who were trailing the series by 2 games to 1 and facing elimination) took a 6鈥? lead into the 8th inning. A grand slam by Lance Berkman in the bottom of the 8th brought the score to 6鈥?, and in the last of the 9th Brad Ausmus homered to tie the game and send it to extra innings. The score remained deadlocked at 6鈥? until the 18th, when the Astros' Chris Burke (who entered the game in the 9th inning as a pinch runner) homered to left field to win the game and send Houston to the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Roger Clemens, who was brought in to pinch-hit in the 15th and pitched the last three innings in relief, was credited as the winning pitcher in the 5 hour, 50 minute contest.
The longest World Series game by time was Game 3 of the 2005 Series, played between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros on October 23, 2005: it ran 5 hours and 41 minutes. It was also the longest World Series game by innings (14), tied with Game 2 of the 1916 Series, played between the Boston Red Sox and the Brooklyn Robins on October 9, 1916. The 1991 World Series was the longest World Series ever in terms of total number of innings, running out to seven games, three of which were extra-innings contests (the longest of which ran out to 12 innings), a total of 69 innings before the trophy was finally claimed by the Minnesota Twins.
|
