What happens if a baseball game is tied, or one team is far ahead?
I · Intermediate · Pitching and game management · 8 of 9A tied game goes to extra innings, and in WBSC tournaments each team starts every extra inning with runners already on first and second and nobody out. A one-sided game can end early: if a team trails by ten or more runs after batting in at least five innings, the game is over.
How it works
- Tied after the last inning: play continues until one team leads after a completed inning, or the home team goes ahead.
- The extra-inning start: "a player on first and second, no outs".
- Who the runners are: the two players who bat before the batter due up. If the ninth hitter leads off, the eighth goes to first and the seventh to second.
- The order continues: the batting order carries on from the previous inning.
- Both halves: the visiting team bats first and the home team second, as usual.
- Scoring: the placed runners are not charged to the pitcher as earned runs.
- Run difference: in the under 15, under 18, under 23 and women's World Cups, ten or more runs behind after batting in at least five innings.
- Under 12: fifteen runs after four innings, or ten after five.
- Not in the final: the run difference rule does not apply to the championship game. It does apply to the bronze medal game.
- A home run to end it: the batter and all runners are allowed to score before the game ends.
The glossary has the extra innings entry, the run difference rule, the tie game, the inning, the run and the base runner.
Tricky cases
The ninth inning of a Premier12 game ends with the number 5 hitter making the last out. Who is where in the tenth?
Number 6 leads off, number 5 is on first base and number 4 is on second.
A team leads by eleven after four innings of a seven-inning World Cup game. Is it over?
Not yet. The losing team must have batted in at least five innings.
The home team scores to go ten ahead in the bottom of the fifth. Does the inning continue?
The rule ends the game once a team is ten or more behind after having batted in at least five innings, and the visiting team has. The rules read do not spell out the moment for a home team that reaches the margin mid-inning.
Can the gold medal game end on the run difference rule?
No. It does not apply to the world championship game.
Why the rule exists
A tournament has several games a day on one field and pitchers with limited arms. Putting two runners on base makes a run likely and brings a tied game to an end within an inning or two. The run difference rule spares a beaten team, and its pitchers, innings that can no longer change the result.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Premier12 | Extra innings from the tenth, runners on first and second | WBSC Baseball Appendix 1, A1.4.2.3 |
| Under 15, under 18, under 23, women | From the eighth; ten runs after five innings ends a game | WBSC Baseball Appendix 1, A1.4.1.2; A1.4.2.2 |
| Under 12 | From the seventh; fifteen runs after four innings, or ten after five | WBSC Baseball Appendix 1, A1.4.1.1; A1.4.2.1 |
| Outside WBSC tournaments | The base rule has no placed runners | WBSC Baseball Rule 7.7.2 |
From the rule book
World Baseball Softball Confederation, Official Rules of Baseball (2025-2026 edition), Rules 6.71 and 7.7.2, and Appendix 1, A1.4. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: WBSC Official Rules of Baseball 2025-2026 (PDF).