Welcome to the exciting world of “7th Inning Stretch,” where you, the Manager, take control of a baseball team and lead them to victory! In this tabletop baseball board game, you’ll draft players, strategize your batting order, and make critical decisions during the game. It’s time to show off your managerial skills and compete against other Managers to claim victory on the diamond.
Components
- Game Board: The game board represents the baseball field, complete with bases, a pitcher’s mound, and a scoreboard.
- Player Cards: These cards represent the baseball players, including Hitters (contact and power), Starting Pitchers (SP), and Relief Pitchers (RP).
- Dice: Custom six-sided dice are used to resolve actions and determine outcomes. Pitchers roll white dice with baseball symbols on them. There are 3 sides with baseballs meaning a success and 3 blank sides. Hitters roll brown dice with 3 sides having bats on them.
- Tokens: Tokens include Strike Tokens, Ball Tokens, Out Tokens, and Run Tokens, used to track the game’s progress.
- Decks of Cards: There are several decks of cards, including Hitter Contact, Hitter Power, and Fielder (Good, Average, Poor) cards.
- Manager Cards : These cards introduce additional strategic elements to the game. Managers can play them to influence the game’s outcomes.
Game Setup
- Drafting Your Team: At the start of the game, each Manager will draft a team of players. You’ll need to draft 8 position players, 1 Designated Hitter (DH), 1 Starting Pitcher (SP), and 1 Relief Pitcher (RP). Players have different costs to draft, and you must stay within your starting budget of $15.
- Draft Notes:
- -Shuffle the 1 level fielders and deal 5 to each player.
- -Shuffle the 5 level fielders and draw 4 cards. Shuffle the 3 Level players and draw 6 cards. Lay out the drawn cards on the table separated by position, this is the draft pile. Add all pitcher cards, separated by position to the draft pile.
- -Each player get’s 15 Credits to spend adding players from the draft pile.
- -Draft using a snake type picking style. Each player rolls 5 dice, player with the most successes chooses first.
- -If a player chooses to upgrade one of their 1 level player for a better level player they deduct 1 Credit from the cost.
- -Players can spend 1 Credit for a Challenge card. Players can get a max of 2 Challenge cards during the draft.
- -Players can discard a manager card to gain 2 credits in the draft. There is no max to how many manager cards they discard during the draft.
- -If there is a vacant position still on a team and the player is out of Credits fill the vacancy with a 0 level player of that position.
- Determining Batting Order: Managers arrange their drafted players in their desired batting order from 1st to 9th.
- Home and Visitor: The home and visiting teams are determined by rolling a dice. The team that rolls the highest value becomes the home team.
Gameplay
The game consists of innings, starting in the 7th inning with a score of 0-0, mimicking a pitcher’s duel. The game plays until the 9th inning, and extra innings may occur if the score remains tied.
Pitching and Batting
- Each player has rankings for Fastball, Curveball, and Change-up pitches, ranging from 1 to 3 for hitters and 2 to 4 for pitchers.
- Hitters guess the pitch the pitcher will throw, placing a corresponding card face down.
- Pitchers select a pitch, roll the number of dice matching their pitch stats, and place a cube on the corresponding spot.
- Both hitter and pitcher roll dice based on their pitch stats, with hitters guessing correctly gaining an extra die.
- If the pitcher rolls more successes than the hitter, it’s a strike; if it’s the same, it’s a ball; if the hitter has more successes, it’s a hit.
- Hits lead to drawing Hitter cards to determine the outcome, including the fielding ability of the player.
- Runners can steal bases, rolling dice against the catcher’s roll to determine success.
Pitcher Strategy
- Pitchers receive penalties for repeating the same pitch consecutively.
Pitcher Fatigue
- Starting Pitchers’ stats decrease every inning.
- Relief Pitchers have a limited number of innings before their stats reduce to 1 in all categories.
Manager Cards
- Manager Cards introduce strategic choices and can influence game outcomes.
- Here is a list of the manager cards that can be used in a game. Once used they are discarded from the game: -Challenge the call: From the same fielding deck draw the next card and use this outcome instead.
- -Rob them of a HR: When a HR card is drawn Roll 5 dice. Result: 3 or more baseball’s player is out. Result 2 or less HR
- -Swing for the fence: The batter rolls 5 dice. Result: 3 or more bats is a HR. Result is 2 or less bats the player is out.
- -Mound Visit: For the rest of this at bat the pitcher rolls 5 dice for each pitch.
- -Pitcher is rattled: For the rest of this at bat the batter rolls 5 dice for each pitch.
- -Sun in their eyes: Fielder draws from the Poor Fielder deck for this hit.
- -Spectacular play: Fielder draws from the Good Fileder deck for this hit.
Winning the Game
- The game starts in the 7th inning with a score of 0-0.
- The team leading at the end of the game wins.
- Extra innings occur if the game is tied.
Conclusion
“7th Inning Stretch” is a strategic baseball board game that combines player drafting, on-field decision-making, and the thrill of a baseball match. As the Manager, you’ll need to make the right choices to outsmart your opponent and emerge victorious. Enjoy the game and may your team hit homers and make memorable plays on the diamond!
