Baseball: are 6-2-5 double plays really that rare?

[Fish]

@Rysdad

Your location wouldn’t be the Windy City, would it?

It should properly be “25 or 6 to 4.”

Written out, it makes more sense as “twenty-five or -six to four.”

[DesertDog]

@CookingWithGas

You mean complicating it. I’ll never know why they didn’t start by numbering first, second, and third as 1, 2, and 3.

Stone the heretic!

Seriously, the player numbering system was invented by one Harry Wright in 1890 and in baseball, above all things, you don’t mess with tradition. Personally, I wish he’d used letters for the defensive positions and numbers for the batting order. There’s nothing keeping you from scoring the game with anything you like. On the Baseball Almanac website is a tutorial on scoring, and it leads off with a quote from Red Barber:

I doubt if there are any two people, fans, writers or broadcasters, who keep score with identical symbols and systems. I do know that any fan who acquires the habit of scoring his own ball games will find that it adds much to his enjoyment of the pastime.

The link in bordelond’s post shows a system that is a lot more complicated than mine (and yields more information) but mine suits me because it records what I am interested in. You can do the same.

[nivlac]

@Fish

In a 6-2-5 double play, the ball goes first to force out the runner at the plate, then force out the runner at third. The reason you don’t often see it is because of this rule, my emphasis:

When you’re trying to end the inning with a double play, the runner heading from third to home is meaningless. If the defense can force out the runners at second and first, no runs score no matter how fast or slow the guy from third base may be.

You’re more likely to see this play when there are no outs in that half of the inning, when the defense must legitimately try to stop the runners from crossing the plate.

I think that your argument goes more to why a 6-4-x DP is more common than a 6-2-x DP. You’re right in that the reason to go home for the second out is to make absolutely sure that no run scores in the inning because of the game situation. By coming home, even if the DP fails, no run scores. So for a 6-2-x DP to even make sense, the SS will be playing in with the intent of cutting the runner down at the plate. So I think that the discussion is really between 6-2-5 vs. 6-2-3, and the other posts essentially addressed this already. A third out at first is generally an easier out because the batter starts his run to first from home plate (90 ft away) from a standing position while the runner on second will have a lead and sometimes even a running start and will be hard to double up at third base. The only times this may happen is when the runner on second screwed up on the bases, and this will be rare in the majors. Another possibility is that the batted ball was fielded by the SS in such a way that the runner at second couldn’t tell if it was caught or not. That hesitation by the runner could allow an out at third.

[BobT]

Also in a bases-loaded situation, the third baseman isn’t expecting a return throw so he won’t be heading back to cover third. Unless the runner on second has fallen over or there were no outs to begin with, it doesn’t make much sense to go after that runner. Even with no outs, it’s still better to go to first base. That play gets practiced more.

When the catcher receives a throw from an infielder, he will usually position himself to throw to first. Unless you have a lefthanded catcher. And those come around every 50 years.

[Mathochist]

@Fish

It should properly be “25 or 6 to 4.”

Written out, it makes more sense as “twenty-five or -six to four.”

Hush, you. I had to tweak it to fit the format of the comment I was responding to.

[633squadron]

@CookingWithGas

I don’t know how rare they are but the Nationals recently hit into a 1-2-5 (OK, not a 6-2-5, but close enough).

Under the circumstances, 1-2 to start is absolutely necessary. That’s a force-out and a prevented run. If the runners are thinking, they’ll be moving the moment they see it’s on the ground, and should be at their bases. A really slow batter might be forced out at first. Otherwise, it’s some dumb mistake like the man now on second overrunning the base and being slow to get back, forgetting that since the catcher still has the ball, it’s still in play.