Local Rules - Major League

1. Continuous Batting – If a player arrives late, he or she will be placed at the end of the lineup without penalty.

2. Time Limit – Majors regular season games will have a 1-hour-and-50-minute time limit. All playoff games will have no time limit.

3. Slaughter and Run Rules – Maximum of 7 runs for each team in the 1st inning.  In subsequent innings, a team can only go ahead by 7 additional runs, except for the 6th inning, which has no run limit. The 10-run rule applies beginning in the 4th inning.

4. Bats – All bats MUST be marked with the USA Baseball stamp.

5. Substitutions – Consistent with Babe Ruth League, Cal Ripken Division rules, which follow individual league pitching rules defined in Article IX, Section 2 – 8, free substitution for all players, except pitchers.  No player may sit more than 2 innings in a 6-inning game, and no player may sit 2 innings consecutively.  In the event of an injury, both coaches must agree on the proper course of action, which should be informed by fairness, the best interest of the players, and the spirit of competition.

6. Minimum Number of Players – Consistent with Babe Ruth League, Cal Ripken Division rules, a team in Majors must have 9 players to start and finish a game.  If a team does not have the minimum number of players required for a regular season game, a substitute player from the next league down may play during the regular season.  The substitute player must bat last and is not permitted to pitch.  Teams that are not able to start and finish a game with the minimum number of players forfeit the game.  No regular season substitutions are permitted for teams that have the minimum number of players from their own roster.  No substitutions are permitted in the playoffs.  When a team is playing with the minimum number of players, in the event of an injury and a player is not able to return to the game within 5 minutes of the injury, it is at the discretion of the opposing coach whether the game can be continued or is forced to forfeit.  The decision, which should be informed by fairness, the best interest of the players, and the spirit of competition, must be made before the next pitch is made.
   

  **COVID era exception - if a team is unable to finish a game with the minimum number of players and that team is without 1 or more players due to COVID, play may continue if no less than 8 players are available, and there is agreement by the opposing coach.  If agreement is reached, the game will be considered official.

7. Pitching Rules – Pitchers are limited to 85 pitches per day.  1-40 pitches require 0 days’ of rest, 41-65 pitches require 1 day of rest, and 66 to 85 pitches require 2 days’ of rest.  If a pitcher reaches 85 pitches while facing a batter, the pitcher may continue to pitch until the batter reaches base safely or is put out.

• It is each team’s responsibility to report pitch counts to the commissioner after each game.
• Games in which an ineligible pitcher has been used, as specified above, shall be declared forfeited.
• A coach is allowed 2 visits per inning to the mound; the second visit must result in removal of the current pitcher.  A visit to the mound during warm-ups between innings is considered an official visit for that inning.
• Once a player is removed from pitching, the player may not re-enter the game as a pitcher.
• Intentional walks and/or automatic outs due to absence - these do not count against pitch totals.

8. Base Runner Contact – Runners must try to avoid contact.  Umpires have full discretion to make the correct call in these situations.

9. Head First Sliding – Allowed

10. Slashing – Not allowed. If a batter shows bunt, the batter cannot pull back and swing away; however, the batter may pull back and take the pitch.  Slashing penalty: Batter is out, and all runners return back to the previous base.

11. Running for Catcher – Only allowed with two outs, and the player who made the last batted out must be the substitute runner.  A player is only deemed the catcher if he or she played the position in the previous inning.  Running for the catcher is NOT allowed during the playoffs.

12. Pitchers – Any pitcher who hits 2 players in an inning or 3 in a game MAY be removed from the game at the discretion of the umpire.  The pitcher is NOT required to be removed.

13. Complete Games – During the regular season, a game is considered a “complete game” after 3.5/4 innings have been completed.  Extra innings are allowed within the time limit of the game.  If the time limit has been exceeded, a single extra inning is allowed.  Playoff games will always be played until  completion.  Playoff games will not end based on weather or darkness, they will be suspended based on the “Suspended Games” rule (see below).

14. Suspended Games – Games that are not “complete games”

• Regular Season – Games suspended by weather or for other reasons, prior to being a complete game, shall be rescheduled, the game shall re-start from the beginning, and pitched innings shall be erased and not counted.
• Playoffs – Games suspended by weather or for other reasons shall be re-scheduled and start at the point at which the game was originally suspended.

15. Balks – Umpires are allowed to give one warning per pitcher per game before calling a balk.  This rule is in effect for both spring and fall seasons.  Warnings are not allowed during the playoffs.

16. Playoff Seeding – The higher seed is always the home team.  The only situation where this does not apply is during a double elimination championship game in which the loser's bracket team is a higher seed than the winner's bracket team.  Determination of the home team for the final game will be by coin flip.

17. Ejections – Any coach or player that is ejected from a game for any reason will be required to leave the facility immediately and will be suspended from the next game regardless of regular season or playoffs.  Minimum number of players rule applies (see above).