It was a rule almost as old as baseball itself, and if it doesn’t apply in Philadelphia, it still applies in Las Vegas.
Sports books in the gambling capital recognized the Phillies as the winners of Monday’s World Series Game 5, 2-1 over the Rays.
However, thanks to some behind-the-scenes manuevering by commissioner Bud Selig, Major League Baseball says it’s tied 2-2 heading to the bottom of the sixth, to be resumed as soon as weather permits.
Confused? You’re not alone.
Usually, when a baseball game is stopped by rain after five innings, the score reverts to the last completed inning, which would make the Phillies the 2-1 winner, which is the rule Las Vegas sports books adhered to Monday.
“We’re just following the regular baseball rules. This is a very common rule,” Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in today’s editions. “We can’t make exceptions.
“There was no special disclaimer for World Series games, or any playoff games for that matter, that your bet would continue if the game was suspended. It’s one of those unfortunate misunderstood rules of baseball betting.”
But Selig did make a special “disclaimer,” as far as he and his sport were concerned. With rain pouring from the sky, the Rays, trailing 2-1 after five innings, rallied with two outs in the top of the sixth, scoring to create a 2-2 tie.
After the third out, the game was halted, and Selig announced it would be suspended and resumed from that point, implementing a new rule instituted prior to the 2007 season. In the past, a tie game that stopped had to be started over from the beginning.
And a regular-season game likely would have reverted to the last completed inning and been over.
“I would not have allowed a World Series to end that way,” Selig said.
There has never been a rain-shortened game in World Series history, and this was the first suspension.
Selig apparently made the decision to play nine innings no matter what prior to Monday’s game, but told very few people. Players and FOX, which broadcast the game, apparently were unaware.
Bob DuPuy, MLB president and chief operating officer, said the commissioner made the right use of the rules.
“If the game hadn’t gone five innings, it would have been wiped out and started from scratch,” DuPuy told MLB.com. “But what the commissioner said is that he would have not wanted the World Series to end with a shortened game. So he would have gone into a rain delay and he would have kept the rain delay in place until he believed weather conditions were suitable to resume the game, which is clearly … under his authority of running the postseason.”
Sports books, citing their own rules, did not agree. And certainly those who held underdog bets on the Rays didn’t, either.
“There will be some upset people,” Kornegay said. “It’s unfortunate because it could be one of the worst bad beats you can get if the Rays come back and beat the Phillies. But it’s not a bad beat yet.”
Had the Phillies “really” won Game 5, they would have claimed their first world championship since 1980. Now, the Rays are still alive.
And bettors can wager on Game 5 again, with the Hilton, and likely other Vegas and offshore books, putting a new line on the remaining 3-½ innings.
Kornegay said the Phillies, who have an advantage because they still get to bat in the sixth inning, will be favorites, and the wagers will be paid “whenever the game is finished.”
Selig defended his decision. The game is scheduled to resume at 8:37 tomorrow night with the Phillies batting to start the bottom of the sixth.
“Well, I guess putting everything else aside, it’s my judgment,” Selig said. “I have to use my judgment. It’s not a way to end a World Series. And I think I have enough authority, here, frankly, so that I’m not only on solid ground, I’m on very solid ground.
“Common sense will always prevail. And I’m very protective of the integrity and sanctity of these games.”
With Las Vegas Review-Journal; MLB.com