doubleheader Add to list Share. When two baseball games are played in a row, one right after the other, that's a doubleheader. Last week's game was called off because of rain, so today they're playing a doubleheader. You can use this term for any sporting events, but it originated with baseball.

Why is it called a doubleheader?

double-header (n.)

1869, American English, in early use a kind of fireworks, also a railway train pulled by two engines (or pulled by one, pushed by the other), 1878; see double (adj.) + head (n.). Baseball sense of "two games between the same teams played in the same place on the same day" is by c. 1890.

How many innings is a doubleheader in baseball?

Major League Baseball made some rule changes last season, as emergency measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. Among them, doubleheader games were shortened to seven innings apiece, and a free runner was placed on second base in extra innings, both designed to shorten the amount of time spent on the field.