The Swing-Off Explained

There is a new rule for the regular season in 2019 which we'll try for just this year on an experimantal basis, and re-assess next off season:  The Swing-Off.

So as to minimize confusion, here are the rules to how the Swing-Off will work:

• In HRL regular season play only, the Swing-Off will happen once 9 innings have been played and there is no victor.
• The team with the fewest # of players present will determine the # of participants in the Swing-Off  (Example: If Team A has only 3 players, and Team B has 5, then both sides will have 3 players participate.)
• Team with the higher # of players can choose which of their players will participate.
• Participants can be in the order of the team’s choosing, it does not have to be the same as the batting order for the game just played
• Teams have their own pitchers of their choosing throw to their own batters.
• Pitchers must throw from the pitching rubber.
• Batter gets one swing, but can take as many pitches as they like before swinging. Either it is a HR or it is not.
• Away team gets first crack.
• If Away team hits a HR, Home team has a chance to answer and force the Swing-Off to the next set of batters.
• If Away team does not hit a HR, Home team can win the game with a HR in the following at-bat.
• If there is no victor after going through all of the batters, the Swing-Off starts again with batters going in the same order.

As for how this will affect statistics, it's pretty minimal:

• There are no stats kept for the Swing-Off.
• HR’s hit will not count toward any batting stats.
• HR’s given up will not count against any pitching stats.
• Team that wins the Swing-Off is awarded 1 “run” and wins the game.
• The pitchers of record (who were throwing at the time the game completed 9 innings) will be awarded the Win or the Loss, but no stats from anything that happened during the Swing-Off will be attributed to them.