23:18
Faizan
Success in baseball is measured in the aggregate. The season is long, players break down, others surge and teams go on cold and hot streaks. And that's why games are played in series. When a series is tied, whether it be a single three-game series or a season-long matchup, and one final game decides the outcome, that game is referred to as a rubber match.
16th Century Origin
The rubber match is not specific to baseball and nobody knows exactly where the term comes from. The word first appeared in print in England in this sense during the late-16th century, referring to the game of bowls, otherwise known as lawn bowling. Perhaps the term comes from the wood of the bowling balls rubbing up against each other during a collision. Others think it refers to using an eraser -- also called a rubber -- to obliterate each team's previous record, making one game decide which team is better. The term has often been used in card games like cribbage, but it can be used to refer to any tiebreaker in any competition.
16th Century Origin
The rubber match is not specific to baseball and nobody knows exactly where the term comes from. The word first appeared in print in England in this sense during the late-16th century, referring to the game of bowls, otherwise known as lawn bowling. Perhaps the term comes from the wood of the bowling balls rubbing up against each other during a collision. Others think it refers to using an eraser -- also called a rubber -- to obliterate each team's previous record, making one game decide which team is better. The term has often been used in card games like cribbage, but it can be used to refer to any tiebreaker in any competition.
Posted in: baseball
