2/ Perhaps the entry level of good #pitching in #baseball is the shut out - no batter rounds the bases and no points are scored.
3/ One level above is the no-hitter: the game is complete yet no batter gets a hit. Theoretically, and in practice, your team can still lose! sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/pi…
4/ Above the #nohitter is the #perfectgame: 27 batters show up and no one gets to base. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_g…
5/ You may think we are done. Not even close. Beyond a #perfectgame is the "immaculate game."
6/ In #baseball, an immaculate inning is 3 strke outs with only 9 pitches. This has only happened 38 times in @MLB history. baseball.fandom.com/wiki/Pitchers_…
7/ We define the immaculate game as one where all 27 batters strike out in exactly 81 pitches.
8/ Don't stop reading - there's more! The next level is the "cosmic" game (my term).
9/ In a cosmic game, all 27 batters retire in less than 81 pitches - tagged out, pop flies, etc.
10/ You can even rank cosmic games by degree - cosmic 34 means only 34 pitches thrown.
11/ Of course, the ultimate cosmic game is only 27 pitches. Imagine a parade of batters who pop out one pitch.
12/ Then we have the last level: the transcendental game: a game where a picther retires all batters on *less* than 27 pitches. How is that even possible?
13/ In most baseball leagues, you can be out for using an altered or illegal bat, verbal interference/harrassment or batting out of order. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_(base…
14/ One can acheive a transcendental game by throwing only 1 pitch to most batters and having a few get tossed on technical grounds.
15/ Like cosmic games, we can have degrees of transcendental games. E.g., transcendental 12 means only 12 pitches thrown.
16/ Finally, we have the ultimate transcendental game where only zero pitches are thrown. How is that possible?
17/ You guessed it - all 27 batters got out via illegal bats or verbal interference. Thus, not a single pitch is thrown but the game is played to nine innings!
18/ Bottom line: Don't settle for less - perfection is only the beginning!!
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