Reading and Fixing the Box Score After the Game

The line score

The line score is the row of numbers across the top: one column per inning, then R, H, and E at the end. Away team on top, home team underneath. That order is a convention every scoreboard follows, so it stays the same regardless of which team is yours.

A dash in an inning means that half was never played, which is different from a zero. A zero means they batted and did not score. The bottom of the last inning is often a dash, because the home team does not bat if they are already ahead.

R, H, and E

• •R is runs, and it is the only one that decides the game.
• •H is hits, meaning times a batter reached on a hit. Walks and errors are not hits.
• •E is errors charged to the defense. An error is a play a fielder should have made.

Why the numbers may not match what you expected

Runs and hits are not the same thing and often disagree. A team can score without a hit, on walks and an error, and a team can pile up hits and strand every one of them.

If the runs total looks wrong rather than merely surprising, that is worth correcting. If it is only the hits or the leftover runners that look odd, the game is probably fine.

Correcting an inning

You can edit an inning's runs directly from the box score. Use this when you notice afterward that an inning is off, rather than trying to undo your way back to it.

The correction is recorded as an adjustment to that inning, so the line score and the final total move together and stay consistent with each other.

Correcting pitch counts and innings played

Pitch counts can be corrected the same way. This matters more than it looks: most youth leagues set required rest based on pitch count, so a wrong number can affect who is eligible on Tuesday.

The number of innings played is editable too. If the game got called after four and a half, set it to what was actually played so the line score stops showing innings that never happened.

Reopening a finished game

If you need to make a bigger correction than the box score allows, you can reopen the game, fix it in the live view, and end it again.

That is also the way out if you ended a game by mistake while it was still going.

Checking and correcting the box score

Worth doing in the parking lot, while you still remember the game.

1. 1

   Open the box score from the game page after ending the game.

2. 2

   Read the line score across: innings, then R, H, and E. Away on top, home underneath.

3. 3

   Check the final runs against what you remember. That is the number that matters.

4. 4

   Tap an inning to correct its runs if one is wrong. The total updates with it.

5. 5

   Correct pitch counts if any are off, since league rest rules depend on them.

6. 6

   Set innings played if the game was shortened, so the line score matches reality.

7. 7

   Reopen the game for anything bigger, fix it live, and end it again.

Frequently asked questions

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