Extra innings and tied games
Baseball extra innings and tied games: how a winner is decided
What happens when regulation ends tied, how walk-off endings work, and why MLB regular season, MLB postseason and WBSC tournaments can start extra innings differently.
A tie after regulation sends the game to extra innings
When the score is tied after the last regulation inning, play continues. The visiting team can win by finishing a full extra inning ahead; the home team wins as soon as it scores the go-ahead run in the bottom half, so that winning run ends the game immediately.
MLB regular-season extras start with a runner on second
In current MLB regular-season games, every half-inning after the ninth begins with an automatic runner on second base. The runner is the player in the batting order immediately before the leadoff hitter, or an eligible pinch-runner. A run scored by that automatic runner is not charged as an earned run to the pitcher.
MLB postseason extras begin with the bases empty
The automatic runner is not used in the MLB postseason. Each extra half-inning begins with the bases empty, and the game continues under the normal visiting-team and home-team sequence until a winner is decided. The same sport therefore uses different extra-inning procedures by competition phase.
WBSC tournaments use a different tie-break procedure
Under the WBSC 2025-2026 rules, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women’s Baseball World Cups begin the 8th inning with runners on first and second and no outs after a seven-inning tie; Premier12 begins the 10th the same way after nine tied innings. The batting order continues normally. Other competitions can define different regulation lengths or tie procedures, so the event rules matter.