The match between SSG Landers and Hanwha Eagles, which faced off at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 14th, ended in a 3-3 draw after 12 overtime matches. The two teams played the game for 4 hours and 48 minutes, but it was only a ’empty battle’.
Immediately after the game, SSG owner Jeong Yong-jin posted on his SNS, “If you win, you win, if you lose, you lose. What a damn draw in baseball. We have to play from the 12th inning.” The theory of the abolition of baseball draws was ignited.
Since its inception in 1982, professional baseball has changed its rules several times, but has maintained a draw system in the big picture.
At the time of its inception, there was a 15 draw system. Starting from the 2004 season, a time limit rule was introduced, and games ended immediately after 10:00 p.m. without going into overtime.
In 2008, for the first time in league history, the ‘end game’ rule was made without a draw. Since then, the regulation has been removed due to concerns about player injuries.
After that, there was a draw rule for 12 extra times (regular league standard), but there were also ‘two days without night’ matches that ended past midnight.
In 2021, due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) in the league, a draw system of 9 was introduced, limited to the second half. As a result, there were 50 draws in one season.
The system related to the draw was changed frequently, but it did not satisfy everyone. In particular, opinions were divided on how to reflect a draw on team performance. Currently, a draw is excluded from the odds calculation. However, in the past, a draw was counted as 0.5 win or 0.5 loss, or even counted as 1 loss.
In this process, the opinion that the match should be decided in some way was continuously raised from all over the field, and the match-up was introduced for the first time at the 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC), an international competition, drawing attention.
Matchmaking is becoming an alternative, but there are quite a few opposing voices. Criticism that it is not suitable for baseball, which is characterized by no time limit unlike soccer or basketball, was not easy.
However, recently, as match-ups have become commonplace, the atmosphere that wants to introduce the KBO league is getting bigger. The fact that Major League Baseball (MLB), which leads the world in baseball, has permanently introduced overtime from this season also influenced the formation of public opinion.
The KBO is also reviewing this positively. As the Futures (second team) league already introduced a match-up system from this year in Korea, it seems that it will not be long before the match-up system is introduced in the first team game.
A KBO official said, “The abolition of draws or the introduction of match-ups is an issue that we have been considering for quite some time.
Currently, MLB has introduced a match-up instead of a draw, but in lower leagues such as independent leagues, a home run race after the 9th inning or a tie in regular innings is experimentally operated to determine the win or loss with the most hits.
The KBO is watching various cases abroad and is struggling with which method is most suitable for the reality of the domestic baseball world, but it is a situation where it is more stable than event-oriented methods such as home run races.
The official said,메이저놀이터 “(In the case of introducing match-ups), it is not a problem that can be introduced immediately because it is necessary to consider the power of each team and discuss how to handle the records generated during the match-up.” From various angles, such as the position of the stance, I think it is necessary to abolish the draw.”
