late innings
Game's closing chapters
Late innings refers to the final third of a baseball game—typically the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
The phrase extends to any situation approaching its conclusion: We're in the late innings of this negotiation.
It often implies urgency or that outcomes are becoming clearer: In the late innings of his career, he finally won a championship.
- bottom of the ninthFinal half-inning possible
- final frameLast turn in bowling
- two outsNearly retired the side
- bases loadedAll three bases occupied
- full countMaximum balls and strikes
decisive moment · endgame · overtime · winding down · closing time · conclusion · closer · walk-off · sudden death · relief pitcher · crunch time · do or die · down the stretch · final stretch · buzzer-beater · finishing line · tipping point · pennant race
- innings
late inningsearly days
Initial period of development
starting out · infancy · kickoff · dawn · outset
late inningsearly innings
Start of a game
early days · starting out · ground floor · day one · infancy
late, lately, later, latest, lateness, latish, inning, innings