What is the absolute minimum number of batters a pitcher must face and still pitch a complete game.?
24 can’t be the minimum! In order for a player to face 24 batters, he would have to pitch to every batter only once for eight innings. Everybody seems to assume that because a visiting team that is losing a ballgame when the bottom of the ninth rolls around and the losing visitng team will not have to pitch to the home team in the bottom of the ninth that a pitcher can subsequently face a mere 24 batters. HOWEVER, the pitcher that would have faced the 24 batters through 8 innings would also have to have given up the lead sometime during those eight innings. This requires AT LEAST one extra batter to be faced (the batter would not have been retired since he would have scored). Thus, the minimum is 25 batters, since you would need to have faced at least one extra batter over the minimum in order to have given up the lead and negate your pitching duties in the ninth inning. Thus, the absolute minimum would be 25 BATTERS.
