What is "doubleheader"

doubleheader \doubleheader\ n. two events, usually entertainment or sports performances, occurring immediately in succession or within a short time of each other; especially, two sports games played by the same teams on the same day, one right after another.

Note: A doubleheader in baseball is often scheduled between teams when a previously shceduled game is postponed, as due to rain or other interfering factors. In such cases, the admission price for the doubleheader remains that of a single game, though two games are played.

Syn: twin bill, double feature.

alt. 1 A train with two engines, (predates baseball term). 2 (context sport English) Two games played on the same day at the same venue. 3 (context fishing English) Two fishermen each catching a fish at the same time. n. 1 A train with two engines, (predates baseball term). 2 (context sport English) Two games played on the same day at the same venue. 3 (context fishing English) Two fishermen each catching a fish at the same time.

n. two instead of one [syn: twin bill, double feature]

Doubleheader may refer to:

• Doubleheader (baseball) - Two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day.
• Doubleheader (television) - An all-inclusive sports broadcast of two games back-to-back.
• Doubleheader (Transformers) - an Autobot Pretender
• Doubleheader, Texas - a former Czech American settlement.
• A fish of the Wrasse family Coris bulbifrons.
• Double-heading - using two railway locomotives to pull a long or heavy train.

A doubleheader (in the classic sense) is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate succession.

In Major League Baseball, for many decades, doubleheaders were routinely scheduled several times each season. However, today a doubleheader is generally the result of a prior game between the same two teams being postponed due to inclement weather or other factors. Most often the game is rescheduled for a day on which the two teams play each other again. Often it is within the same series, but in some cases, may be weeks or months after the original date. On rare occasions, the last game between two teams in that particular city is rained out, and a doubleheader may be scheduled at the other team's home park to replace the missed game.

Currently, major league teams playing two games in a day usually play a "day-night doubleheader," in which the stadium is emptied of spectators and a separate admission is required for the second game. However, such games are officially regarded as separate games on the same date, rather than as a doubleheader. True doubleheaders are less commonly played, and usually are of the twi-night variety. Classic doubleheaders, also known as day doubleheaders, were more common in the past, but although they are vanishingly rare in the major leagues, they still are played at the minor league and college levels.

In 1959, at least one league played a quarter of their games as classic doubleheaders, which declined to 10% in 1979 and further to the point that there were eight years between two officially scheduled doubleheaders. Reasons for the decline include clubs' desire to maximize revenue, longer duration of games, five-day pitching rotation as opposed to four-day rotation, time management of relievers and catchers, and lack of consensus amongst players.

A doubleheader is a term used by television networks to refer to two games involving the same sport that are shown back-to-back on the same network, even though the events do not involve the same two teams (three such games may be referred to as a tripleheader, this scenario occurring most frequently in regard to basketball). A doubleheader purposely coincides with a league's scheduling of "early" and "late" games. In North America, games usually start at the same time period in different time zones ( Eastern and Pacific).