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Major league rules. What happens if team used the entire roster and now a player gets hurt ???

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MLB rule 7.03(b) (2021 edition):

A game shall be forfeited to the opposing team when a team is unable or refuses to place nine players on the field.

So if it's really the case that all but 8 players on your roster have already been used or are injured, your team loses the game by forfeit.

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  • You can maybe imagine some narrow loopholes. Say you are the home team and you come to bat in the bottom of the 17th with only 9 players left. The scheduled leadoff batter trips on his way up the dugout steps and injures himself. You could perhaps avoid a forfeit by sending one of your remaining 8 players to the plate, and let him be called out for batting out of order. Then hope you can get a walkoff win before making 2 more outs, because if it goes to the top of the 18th, you'll forfeit when you can't field 9 players for defense.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jun 13, 2021 at 5:07
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When a player leaves the game he is done. There are high school rules that are subject to locality that allow a pitcher to reenter the game in a non-pitching role. However in MLB you get taken out, you are out - I think rule 303.

What happens when the manager is in the 17th inning and a player gets hurt and there is no one else? Well this basically can never happen in reality.

Why?

Because there are 4 other starting pitchers. So right fielder gets hurt, starting pitcher (that did not pitch this game) plays right field. If all of your other 4 starting pitchers enter the game and get taken out or if they are hurt... You play with 8 - bylaws will include an automatic out in the lineup.

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  • I don't get the "bylaws will include an automatic out in the lineup" phrase. Does it mean that on their turn they will start with an out against three to end the inning?
    – Yannis Dran
    Dec 7, 2018 at 11:20
  • @YannisDran - if you are down to 8 players the "missing player" is still in your lineup. When they come to bat it is an automatic out.
    – Coach-D
    Dec 7, 2018 at 17:57
  • So that means if (theoretically) we had a three consecutive players missed from our lineup, then a whole inning would not be played in defense, right?
    – Yannis Dran
    Dec 12, 2018 at 10:38
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    @YannisDran - Great question - 8 is the minimum. You cannot play with less than 8 players. So at most you could have one auto out in your lineup. Really good stats question would be when was the last time this happened in a MLB game. When I used to umpire youth games I would see it once a year.
    – Coach-D
    Dec 12, 2018 at 19:48
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    MLB rules state that if you cannot field 9 players, you forfeit the game (7.03(b)); they do not have an "automatic out" rule as far as I can tell.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jun 13, 2021 at 4:43

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