Forfeit (baseball)

Leagues with seven-inning games, such as high school baseball or softball, generally award a rule-based score of 7–0.

The same is true for Little League Baseball, per Rule 2.00, under the definition of "Forfeit", there is one run allocated per inning, resulting in scores of 6–0 or 7–0, depending on the division.

Retroactive forfeiture can happen for Little League World Series games, and occurred following the 1992 and 2014 events, in both cases after the offending teams were found to have fielded players in violation of age or residency restrictions.

During the 19th century, major league club rosters were typically much smaller than today since owners were often reluctant to spend more than absolutely necessary on payroll.

Moreover, the fastest means of communication and transportation between cities was telegraph and railroad respectively, thus teams often could not replace players who became unavailable for whatever reason for several days.

A potential blemish to the Series was averted when Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ordered both Medwick and Owen replaced in the one-sided game.

[4] In games that were played before the advent of stadium lighting (and/or were subject to a relatively early curfew), forfeits were also sometimes declared as a result of a team's stalling tactics.

On July 18, the visiting Philadelphia Phillies were leading the hometown St. Louis Cardinals, 8–1, in the fifth inning of the second game of a doubleheader.

The advent of night baseball eliminated the use of stalling tactics to beat the sunset, and any curfews still in force are much more lenient than in the past (for example, only prohibiting innings from starting after 1 am, long after a game is likely to be official).