Forfeit (baseball)

In rare cases, baseball games are forfeited. A forfeiture may occur when a club is no longer able or willing to play, or when the game cannot be completed in a safe and/or timely manner and one of the participating teams is deemed culpable for the stoppage of play.

Although not uncommon in baseball's early days, forfeits are now rare. There have been only five forfeits in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1954; the last forfeit was in 1995, and prior to that, 1979. Since 1914, there has only been one incident where a team deliberately made a decision to forfeit a game, by the 1977 Baltimore Orioles.