Perfect game (baseball)

For other uses, see Perfect game.
The "everlasting image" of New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra leaping into the arms of pitcher Don Larsen after the completion of Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series[1]

In baseball, a perfect game is a game in which one or more pitchers complete a minimum of nine innings with no batter from the opposing team reaching base.[2] To achieve a perfect game, a team must not allow any opposing player to reach base by any means: no hits, walks, hit batsmen, uncaught third strikes, catcher's interference, fielder's obstruction, or fielding errors which allow a batter to reach base.

A perfect game, by definition, is also a no-hitter, and is also guaranteed to result in a win and a shutout if the game does not go into extra innings. In leagues that use a WBSC tiebreaker (including MLB since 2020), runners are placed on second base, and in some leagues, also on first base at the start of each half-inning during extra innings; this automatic runner would not cause a perfect game to be lost. Therefore, if the runner advances and scores without any batters reaching base (by means of stolen base, sacrifice, fielder's choice, etc.), and this turns out to be the winning run, then the losing team will still be credited with a perfect game, despite losing the game. A fielding error that does not allow a batter to reach base, such as a misplayed foul ball, does not spoil a perfect game.[3] Games that last fewer than nine innings, regardless of cause, in which a team has no baserunners do not qualify as perfect games. Games in which a team reaches first base only in extra innings also do not qualify as perfect games.

The first known use of the term perfect game was in 1908; its current definition was formalized in 1991. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it has been achieved 24 times – 22 times since the modern era began in 1901, most recently by Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees on June 28, 2023, against the Oakland Athletics. Although it is possible for two or more pitchers to combine for a perfect game (which has happened 20 times in MLB no-hitters[4]), every MLB perfect game so far has been thrown by a single pitcher.[5] An example of a combined perfect game occurred in Game 5 of the 2007 Japan Series of Nippon Professional Baseball.

  1. ^ Madden, Bill (September 12, 2008). "Yogi Berra's Favorite Stadium Moment: Don Larsen's Perfect Game". Daily News. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
  2. ^ "MLB Official Info". MLB Advanced Media. 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  3. ^ "MLB Miscellany: Rules, Regulations and Statistics". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
  4. ^ "Looking at MLB's 19 combined no-hitters". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  5. ^ "History: No-hitters". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2007.