What Does A Walk Off Mean In Baseball?

A walk-off in baseball is when the home team scores the winning run in the bottom of the inning. It’s called a walk-off because the game ends as soon as the runner touches home plate.

Definition of a walk off

In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. It must be a home run that gives the home team the lead in the bottom of the final inning of the game. A walk-off grand slam home run is especially dramatic, as it gives the home team a four-run lead. Walk-offs are usually celebrated by the entire team, and often by fans as well, and occur more often in baseball than any other sport.

Examples of walk offs

In baseball, a walk-off win occurs when the home team scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning or later. It can also occur in extra innings if the home team scores in the bottom half of any inning. Walk-off wins are typically celebrated by the entire team, and often with special walk-off celebrations on the field.

The term “walk-off” originally comes from horse racing, where a horse that wins “by a nose” is said to have won “on a walk-off.” In baseball, the term originated from headlines in The New York Times in the 1920s.

Here are some examples of recent walk-off wins in Major League Baseball:

On June 30, 2018, the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on an RBI single by Jean Segura in the bottom of the ninth inning.

On May 8, 2018, The Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3 on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the bottom of the 10th inning.

On September 27, 2017, The Minnesota Twins beat The Detroit Tigers 6-5 on an RBI single by Jorge Polanco in the bottom of the ninth inning.

How a walk off is scored

Generally, if the score is tied at the end of regulation play, extra innings are played until one team finally scores more runs than the other. However, if the home team is leading at the bottom of the ninth inning (or any later inning), and they score one or more runs to extend their lead, they win the game immediately—this is called a walk-off win. No further innings are played.

There are two ways a walk-off can happen in baseball. The first and most common is when the home team hits a home run in their last at-bat of the game. This scenario usually plays out when the home team is down by one or two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning (or later), and they manage to hit a long ball to score the winning runs.

The second way a walk-off can occur is less common, but it happens sometimes—this is when the winning run is scored on an error or passed ball by the defense. In order for this to happen, the bases need to be loaded with no outs remaining in the game, and then some sort of defensive mistake results in a run being scored from third base.

The history of walk offs in baseball

A walk-off or game-ending home run is a home run hit by the home team in the bottom of the ninth inning or later, which preserves their lead and thus ends the game. The winning run must be scored on a home run that does not tie the game. Because of baseball’s Divisional play, this typically means that the home team must be losing by one or two runs.

The concept of a game-ending home run is tied to baseball’s scoring rules; contrary to popular belief, it is not dictated by late-game situation. A walk-off can occur at any point in the game, but most commonly occurs when a team trailing or down by two runs scores multiple runs in their final at bats to either tie or take the lead.

During the 2015 Major League Baseball season, 27 walk-offs were recorded in 55 total opportunities (a 49% success rate). Of these 27 walk offs, 14 were recorded as home runs (11 solo shots and 3 2-run homers). Baseball teams have come back from as many as 10 runs to win on a walk off homerun. The largest margin overcome occurred on June 23, 1935 when trailed 12–0 against Detroit entering the ninth inning and won 13–12 thanks to Dizzy Trout’s 3 run homerun.

Most notably in recent memory are Aaron Boone’s 11th inning homer off Tim Wakefield to win Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS for the Yankees against their heated rivals, the Boston Red Sox. Similarly, Kirk Gibson hit an improbable 9th inning blast off Dennis Eckersley to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers against Oakland. Other more recent examples include David Freese’s walk-off homer in Game 6 of 2011 World Series for St. Louis against Texas and Alex Gonzalez’s 12th inning bomb for Atlanta which clinched their spot in this year’s NL Wild Card game against Pittsburgh.