Editing Mercy rule (section)

==Baseball and softball==

International competitions are sanctioned by the [[World Baseball Softball Confederation]] (WBSC), formed by the 2013 merger of the [[International Baseball Federation]] (IBAF) and [[International Softball Federation]] (ISF).

In international baseball competition and the [[World Baseball Classic]] (WBC), games are ended when one team is ahead by 10 runs, once at least seven completed innings are played by the trailing team. In seven-inning contests (women's competition and doubleheaders), the same applies after five innings of a seven-inning game.<ref>[[International Baseball Federation]] (2008). [http://s29178.gridserver.com/pdf/International_Rules_ENG.pdf IBAF Official Competitions Technical/Organisational Norms - Valid only for 2008]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Rule C7.8, "Run difference Rule". Accessed on 2008-03-13.</ref>

The [[2006 World Baseball Classic|inaugural WBC]] in 2006 followed the IBAF mercy rule, with an additional rule stopping a game after five innings when a team is ahead by at least 15 runs.<ref>World Baseball Classic, Inc. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060326053102/http://ww2.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/about/index.jsp?sid=wbc 2006 World Baseball Classic: FAQ]. Accessed on 2008-03-13.</ref> The mercy rules applied to the round-robin (now double-elimination) matches only, not to the semi-finals or final.

In a six-inning game such as [[Little League Baseball|Little League Baseball and Softball]], rules call for the game to end if the winning team is ahead by 15 runs after three innings played or 10 runs after four innings played by the trailing team. In a seven-inning game at the intermediate level or higher, the corresponding run rule is applied for 15 runs after four innings, or 10 runs after five innings. Little League refers to this rule as the ''run rule'', instead of the ''mercy rule''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.littleleague.org/university/articles/the-10-run-rule-what-parents-need-to-know/|title=The 10 and 15-Run Rules: What Parents Need to Know}}</ref>

Softball rules are different for fast/modified fast pitch and slow pitch. In WBSC-sanctioned competitions, the run-ahead rule (the WBSC terminology) is, for fast or modified fast pitch, 20 runs after three innings, 15 after four, or 8 after 5. In slow pitch, the margin is 20 runs after four innings or 15 after five.<ref name=ISF>{{cite web|publisher=[[International Softball Federation]] |author=International Softball Federation Playing Rules Committee |url=http://www.internationalsoftball.com/english/rules_standards/Rulebook_2002.pdf |title=Official Rules of Softball (Revised 2005) Rule 5, Sec. 5, "Run Ahead Rule" |access-date=2008-08-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218104659/http://www.internationalsoftball.com/english/rules_standards/Rulebook_2002.pdf |archive-date=2007-02-18 }}</ref>  The NCAA has also adopted the rule.

In regular season or conference tournament [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] and [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics|NAIA]] college baseball, the IBAF rule may be implemented. Most NCAA conferences limit the rule to the final day of a series, for travel reasons, or primarily during conference tournaments where four to five games are played in a day, in order to allow the next game to start. The rule is not allowed in NCAA tournament play (regionals, super regionals and Men's College World Series), in which all games must be at least nine innings.

In NCAA softball (where the rule is called the "run rule"), the rule is invoked if one team is ahead by at least eight runs after five innings and, unlike with college baseball, applies in the NCAA tournament as well, including in the championship series since 2023. In American high school softball, most states use a mercy rule of 20 runs ahead in three innings or 10 in five innings. (In either case, if the home team is ahead by the requisite number of runs, the game will end after the top half of the inning.) In American softball, "run-rule" has become a verb, with the winning team in a game which ends due to this rule often said to have "run-ruled" its opponent (also expressed as the losing team having been "run-ruled").

Most state high school associations (where games are seven innings) use the IBAF Women's rule after five innings have been played by the trailing team; some associations further the rule by ending a game after either three or four innings if the lead is at least 15 runs. For softball, the rule is 12 after three innings and 10 after five. However, since the home team has the last at-bat, the rules usually allow visiting teams to score an unlimited number of runs in the top half of an inning. That can be prevented by invoking the rule only after the home team has completed its half of the inning.

In [[Baseball5]], a WBSC variation of baseball and softball which is played to five innings, a team which leads by 15 runs after three innings or 10 after four innings automatically wins.

Due to the untimed nature of innings, some leagues either impose caps on the number of runs that can be scored in one inning (usually in the 4-8 range) or limit the number of plate appearances in an inning (typically, such a limit will consist of one rotation of the batting order).  Such rules ensure that games will complete in a reasonable length of time, but it can also mean that a lead of a certain size becomes insurmountable by the cap, which can be prevented by not invoking the rule in such circumstances.