AboutBrian Flaspohler Expertise Questions about baseball rules, general information about the game, statistical analysis, questions about players, questions about Baseball records. I am a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and a lifelong baseball fanatic.
Experience Lifelong fan, article about player movement from team to team throughout history.
Question how many innings need to be completed for a game to be a complete game?
Answer Robert,
If a single pitcher pitches all of an official game, then they get credit for a complete game. If the game goes to extra innings, they have to pitch all the innings. If the game is shortened by rain and they pitch every inning, then it is a complete game.
So, usually nine innings, but as long as they pitch the whole game they get credit.
