Game of baseball has its quirks

Baseball is a interesting game.
For instance, it is the only team sport without a time limit.
At the high school level, games can be as few as five innings, or reach far into double digits.
In Major League Baseball, a game can also be as brief as five innings if inclement weather is threatening.
But there is no saying how long a game can be, both in terms of innings and time.
The fastest game in MLB history occurred nearly 100 years ago, when the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in just 51 minutes.
The longest? There are two that fit the bill.
In 1920, the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Red Sox tied at 1-1 after 26 innings, which is the National League record.
The Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers hold the AL record from their 1984 game that went 25 innings. It is also the longest game in terms of time in Major League history. It took 8 hours, 6 minutes.
At the local level, only one game during the 2015 season went into extra innings, when the Jay County High School baseball team lost at home April 16, 2015, to Wapahani 9-6 in nine innings.
So far this season, two games went into extras. Both were during the first week.
March 28, the Fort Recovery baseball team lost a two-run lead in the seventh inning on the road at Celina. In the top of the ninth, the Tribe drew five straight walks — three of which with bases loaded — for a 10-8 win in nine innings.
Four days later, the Tribe was on the road at Greenville and again lost a late two run lead as the Green Wave scored a run in each of the sixth and seventh innings to send the game into extras.
Fort Recovery nabbed an 8-6 lead in the top of the eighth inning, but saw it vanish too in the bottom half of the frame.
Then in the top of the 11th, the Indians scraped across four runs and held the home team at bay to win 12-8 in 11 innings.
Each day heading to the ballpark, there is no telling how long the game will last. Will it be five innings? How about nine? Maybe even 15?
It’s the best draw to the sport, not knowing what will happen or what nuance of the game will be seen.
For instance, Tuesday’s MLB opener between the Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins featured last season’s batting champions from both leagues. Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera led the AL with a .338 batting average last season, and Miami’s Dee Gordon batted .333 to lead the NL.
According to MLB Network, it was the first time since 1901 that reigning batting champions met to open the season in the same game.
(Gordon also had 58 stolen bases last season, becoming the first player to lead the NL in both batting average and stolen bases since Jackie Robinson in 1949.)
There have also been a few other spectacular feats so far this MLB season, and we’re only five days in.
•According to Elias Sports Bureau, Trevor Story, a shortstop for the Colorado Rockies, became the first player in league history to hit a home run in his first three career games. He’s got four home runs in three games, making him the first rookie since 1900 to accomplish the feat.
•Story isn’t the only player to hit three bombs in his team’s first three games. Seattle Mariners slugger Robinson Cano has also homered in each game so far. Cano and Story are one long ball shy of tying the record for home runs to start a year.
•While Cano’s and Story’s feat are impressive in and of themselves, this is the first time in MLB history that two players have hit home runs in each of their team’s first three games during the same season. And I thought we were getting back to baseball being a pitcher’s game.
•Detroit slugger Victor Martinez opened the season Tuesday with a pinch-hit home run, helping the Tigers to an 8-7 win against the Marlins. Wednesday, Martinez hit another bomb as a pinch hitter in a 7-3 victory. The feat made him the first player since 1914 to hit pinch-hit homers in his team’s first two games of the season.
The first week of the MLB schedule hasn’t been completed yet, and we’ve seen a number of impressive feats.
Can’t wait to see what happens in the remaining two-plus months of the high school season, and sixth months of professional baseball.