Cal Ripken Baseball pitching rules
These are the Cal Ripken Baseball limits as I read them out of Babe Ruth League, Inc. 2026 Rules and Regulations, Rule 0.06 (Pitching Limitations — Local League Play), p.16, checked on September 5, 2026. I coach youth baseball and I bought the books, because every summary I could find online disagreed with at least one other summary. Where a figure comes from the rulebook itself, I say so. Where it does not, I say that too.
| Applies to | Limit | Game length |
|---|---|---|
| 9-10 | 6 innings a week | 6 innings |
| 11-12 | 6 innings a week | 6 innings |
| Innings thrown | Calendar days of rest |
|---|---|
| 0–2 | none |
| 3 or more | 2 |
Rules coaches often miss
- The calendar week runs Monday through Sunday.
- A league may elect to use pitch counts in place of the innings rule; if yours has, tick the pitch-count box under Advanced in Your League.
- A player's league age is their age on May 1, which is what decides the row above that applies to them.
- A pitcher who delivers one or more pitches in an inning is charged with a full inning pitched.
- Rule 0.06-5: each game a pitcher appears in counts as one assignment, so a pitcher may start, move to another position, and return to the mound in the same game and it remains one assignment.
Where these numbers come from
Source: Babe Ruth League, Inc. 2026 Rules and Regulations, Rule 0.06 (Pitching Limitations — Local League Play), p.16, checked September 5, 2026.
Published at: https://coacheducation.humankinetics.com/products/brl-2026-baseball-rules-and-regulations-pdf
Tournament and All-Star play is governed by a different document, and this page cites it separately rather than letting one date stand for both: Cal Ripken & Babe Ruth Tournament Rules and Regulations, item 11, checked August 15, 2026. https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/document/d84c-3376251/CR___BR_Tournament_Rules_and_Regulations.pdf
Babe Ruth League also runs other programs
Babe Ruth League's rules are not the same across its programs. If you coach more than one, check each. See Babe Ruth Baseball and Babe Ruth Softball.
Your league may be stricter
Local boards can and do add restrictions on top of the national rule — inning caps, tighter daily limits, time limits. What they cannot do is go the other way. If your league runs tighter than the table above, your league wins.
Even Innings is a planning aid, not a compliance system. It cannot know what happened in a game, and it does not replace your rulebook or your league's own bylaws. Always confirm current-year specifics with your own league.