Here at CBOS Headquarters, we are putting forth a formal motion to Major League Baseball to re-frame the way 7-inning games are described and considered.

These “shortened” games were introduced last year and are frequently being used for days when teams have been forced to play a double-header for whatever reason (weather delays, games that need to be re-scheduled for pandemic reasons, etc).

The trouble with 7-inning games is that it is difficult at first glance to know what games are 7-inning games and which are not, and therefore it is impossible to understand at what ‘stage of the game’ two teams are in.

If you take a look a a scoreboard on any given day, you may see a game indicating that it is in the 5th-inning.

If it is a “7-inning game”, then the teams’ playbooks for being in the 5th inning would be far different from teams that are in the 5th-inning of a 9-inning game.

The proposed solution to this is very straightforward:

Rather than declaring a game to be a 7-inning game, simply re-frame the way the game is described, and state that the game will start in the 3rd-inning as a scoreless tie.

A scoreless game in the 3rd-inning is a fairly common occurrence, and based on early trials at CBOS, we suggest that taking this approach will make it easier for people to wrap their heads around and stay in context with the flow of standard 9-Inning games.

Switching from “7-Inning Games” to “Games Starting in the 3rd Inning” is a difference in name and description only, but will have many cognitive benefits for viewers and fans.

Here are some screenshots that accentuate the dilemma we are looking at here:

As you can see, the proposed re-framing of the 7-inning game removes the ambiguity and allows us observers to understand what is going on at-a-glance.

For your consideration.