Why 15? why 8? (mercy rule)

[Dakota]

Originally posted by WestMichBlue
However, most people call it a "mercy rule" and it is as it's name implies - have mercy on the poor team getting it's butts whipped. Most youth sports and many high school sports (including basketball and football) have mercy rules to prevent the humiliation of an over-matched team getting drubbed.

Don't misunderstand... the mercy rule (by whatever name) is a good rule, and with time limit games, even more so. In that vein, there should be a 20 after 2 rule for time limit games.

I was just wondering about the numbers chosen. It seems that 15 after 3 is pretty fair; that is a steep hill to climb even with 4 full innings remaining. But 8 after 5 seems like too close a score to call for "mercy." That is just a net gain of 4 runs for each of the remaining at-bats. Certainly not out of reach at the younger levels. I wouldn't think it would be out of reach for the offensive-minded slow pitch game, either.

In the game I described in the beginning, 8 after 5 would have been a losing score in the end, not a "have mercy" situation.

But, as I said, just wondering.