Mercy Rule

A game shall be declared complete and immediately ended once either team takes a lead of ten (10) or more runs, provided that at least five (5) innings have been completed.

Once the ten-run threshold is reached, the game is over at that moment. Play shall not continue to the end of the half-inning, and the home team shall not receive an additional at-bat in the bottom half of the inning.

This rule is intended to avoid the unnecessary use of pitchers and position players in a game that is no longer competitive. It also prevents a trailing team from extending the game by scoring just enough runs in a later at-bat to reduce the deficit below ten (10) runs.