What is the absolute minimum number of batters a pitcher must face and still pitch a complete game.?

Question

MLB rules, no rain delayed or otherwise shortened games.

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Answer 1

24 can't be the minimum! In order for a player to face 24 batters, he would have to pitch to every batter only once for eight innings. Everybody seems to assume that because a visiting team that is losing a ballgame when the bottom of the ninth rolls around and the losing visitng team will not have to pitch to the home team in the bottom of the ninth that a pitcher can subsequently face a mere 24 batters. HOWEVER, the pitcher that would have faced the 24 batters through 8 innings would also have to have given up the lead sometime during those eight innings. This requires AT LEAST one extra batter to be faced (the batter would not have been retired since he would have scored). Thus, the minimum is 25 batters, since you would need to have faced at least one extra batter over the minimum in order to have given up the lead and negate your pitching duties in the ninth inning.

Thus, the absolute minimum would be 25 BATTERS.

Answer 2

In a regularly happening pastime, a minimum of 27 batters must be retired through the homestead crew (the vacationing crew bats in all 9 innings), and 24 through the vacationing crew (the homestead crew does no longer bat interior the bottom of the 9th in the experience that they are superior after the properly of the 9th). although, if the vacationing pitcher purely confronted the minimum 24 batters, the homestead crew doesn't have the lead and they'd ought to play the bottom of the 9th. A vacationing pitcher ought to get an finished pastime from dealing with purely 25 batters. this suggests one runner reached base and scored - both through hitting a house run or through advancing on stolen bases, sacrifices, balks, and so on. and then the vacationing crew would ought to fail to score a unmarried run - making it a a million-0 win for the homestead crew. utilising a similar celebration, it will be feasible for a vacationing pitcher to get an finished pastime through dealing with a minimum of 13 batters in a pastime noted as after 5 innings do to rain. So the reply is 13 batters in a shortened pastime, or 25 batters in a regularly happening 9 inning pastime.

Answer 3

No rain delays or other shortened games - 25, but he's taking a loss.

In such a situation, the pitcher is on the visiting team and the home team has a lead going into the 9th inning and keeps that lead. That makes the bottom of the 9th moot, so it's not played. The pitcher has been near-perfect, save for a solo HR, and the final score of the game would be 1-0.

Next, time, how about a question that has some teeth in it. This one was too easy.

Answer 4

An official game can be as few as 5 innings if the game is called due to inclement weather, or other like circumstances. In this situation, the fewest batters that the road team's starting pitcher could face is 12, if his team is losing going into the bottom of the 5th. I don't think that this has ever happened, though.

Answer 5

Nine would be the minimum number of batters that a pitcher could face in a complete game, assuming there were no subsitutions.

However, based on whether the pitcher is at home or away he will have to go through either 24 or 27 individual at-bats as the minimum for a complete game.

:-)

Answer 6

24

Answer 7

24 would be the minimum, for the visiting team's pitcher when the home team doesn't bat in the bottom of the ninth. Otherwise it is 27.

Answer 8

27

Answer 9

24 batters with his team being the losing team and he wouldn't have to face the 3 batters for the home team in the ninth because they are already winning.

Answer 10

27