Here’s the video of this ridiculous play. Now that’s some little-league shit. 
Pretty damn funny to watch (over and over again) tho.
I know I’m nit-picking myself here, but I just realized this isn’t exactly correct. If the third out is a runner other than the batter prior to reaching first, and isn’t a force play, the run would still count as long as it scored prior to the third out being made (even if the third out was before the batter reached first base).
So, for example, if there were runners on 2nd and 3rd and on a grounder the only play was a tag play at 3rd, if the runner from 3rd scored before the runner was tagged out the run would count regardless of when that happened relative to the batter reaching first.
Actually, I suppose in that situation the batter never even has to make it to first base, since the inning is over once the third out is made.
[/nitpickery]
The 2021 Smoke-and-Mirrors Mets took a doubleheader from the Rockies today by scores of 1-0 and 4-2, managing a total of 8 hits on the day. The slugging outfield tandem of Maybin and Lee are now 1 for 41 on the season.
On the bright side, the Mets made a big trade, sending a minor league pitcher to the Brewers for outfielder Billy McKinney. He was hitting .207, so he’ll fit right in.
If only the Mets played in the AL, they could use DeGrom as a DH (he’s hitting .471).
[/nitpicery^2] Nope. If the runner from third “scores” and they then get the third out on the runner going from 2nd to 3rd, then the defense can still get a “fourth” out by retiring the batter at first and the run doesn’t count. In the scoring, the third out is ignored. This is technically an appeal play. See 5.09(c)
I did not know that!
I was just thinking about how that would work - could the defense actually attempt to get the “4th out”. Should have looked it up.
I see 5.09(c) discusses appeals, but I don’t see anything that specifically says the batter has to make 1st base even after the third out, but I can see how it implies that. And it would certainly make sense.
I wonder if anything like this has been recorded in a MLB or MiLB game. I’ve certainly never seen it.
Even Báez didn’t seem to know the rule for a second. He was busy signally ‘safe’ and celebrating before he realized he still needed to make it to first.
I’ve watched that play ten times and it’s funnier every time.
That’s probably the single worst play I have ever seen. The Pirates are a joke. There is no way I am paying to see that team this year.
How does the first baseman not know what every little leaguer knows? Why is the catcher not yelling at him to step on first? Why is the pitcher not yelling? Why is the whole dugout not yelling?
That’s a really cool twist, thanks for pulling that out. I doubt I’ll even remember it tomorrow!
One of my favorite fake baseball acronyms[sup]1[/sup] is TOOTBLAN, which stands for “Thrown Out On The Bases Like A Nincompoop”. This play would appear to be whatever the exact opposite of a TOOTBLAN is.
[sup]1[/sup]Also on the list is LOOGY - “Lefty One Out GuY”
The term (one I just learned today) is FARTSLAM: fielder allows runner to score like a moron.
This is as close as I could find: April 18, 2014, bottom of the second in a game between the Mets and the Braves. With two out and Duda at first, d’Arnaud hit a grounder to the second baseman. He was called out on a close play. The first baseman threw the ball to the third baseman, who tagged Duda out.
Manager Collins came out to challenge the out at first because replays showed that d’Arnaud was actually safe at first. He was sent back to the dugout being told the ball was not dead and that the “fourth” out rendered his challenge meaningless.
Interesting!
Well now that raises an interesting (to me, at least) hypothetical.
Suppose on that play there had also been a runner on third base. And suppose that runner had scored before the “fourth” out (I don’t think it matters whether it’s before or after the “third out” at first). Assuming I’m understanding the play correctly, in this situation the challenge would not be moot. It would, in fact, make the difference in whether the run counts or not, correct? I guess that would be subject to review, right?
It reminds me a bit of when two runners end up at the same base. The fielder always tags both of them, because it’s sometimes hard to remember which runner really has a right to the base. Better to be safe and just tag them both. I know at least once I’ve seen the “wrong” runner step off the base, assuming they are out, only to then be tagged out.
Baseball is a funny old game sometimes.
Yes then it would not be moot. The “fourth” out was not a force so if the runner crossed the plate before it, the run would count if the appeal was upheld and the batter was called safe at first.
It truly is a beautiful game, isn’t it?
I sent the video to my sister, who isn’t really even a baseball fan, and she reports laughing to tears even after 15, 20 viewings.
In lower levels of baseball and in most softball types, there are rules stating the batter-runner cannot do what Baez did - retreat to home plate. But there’s no such rule in MLB, in part because, hey, when the hell would it even come up?
El Mago!
I’m a Cubs fan, so of course I love Javier Baez, but even I realize a lot of the references to him being magic are homer puffery. But that clip…I have no better explanation to what happened there than that he actually has magical powers.
I also loved when he slid into second, and the ball gets mishandled yet again, and the announcer says, “Keep going! Go! Go! You’re invisible*!”
*I actually couldn’t quite tell if the announcer was saying “invisible” or “invincible”, but either makes sense.
For those of us whose reddit is blocked, here’s a version on YouTube including the broadcast replays. Stay with it to the last seconds.
The shot of a Cub doubled over the dugout rail in laughter just after Baez makes it to second (~0:25 on the vid) is priceless.
I know it’s not your fault, but that’s not real great English: that sentence makes the runner the moron, not the fielder. Then again, baseball players & baseball critics aren’t English majors.
Neither am I an English major, but I think this works better:
Like A Moron, Fielder Allows Runner To Score.
LAMFARTS.
I do grasp what he was aiming at - I just think it’s not workable. Getting into the weeds of “this sticky stuff is OK, this sticky stuff isn’t” is not a great idea. It’s a basic principle of defining sports rules that the best ones are
- Unambiguous,
- Resistant to manipulation, and
- Easily enforced in an immediate fashion.
Allow one regulation rosin bag and nothing else. Unambiguous, impossible to screw around with, easily enforced.
BTW, on that bizarre play, it also just occurred to me that the catcher also makes a bonehead play. When the first baseman flips the ball to him, he tries to tag out the runner trying to score. Which, I realize, at that point, instinct probably took over and he was defending the plate, but…just tag Baez. He’s right next to you. He’s still the third out, and if the catcher tags him out before he gets to first, the run still doesn’t count. It seemed like Contreras (the runner who scored) was the only one involved who actually knew what was going on.
I suspect for the same reason the second baseman wasn’t covering first. From Slate:
Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier, when he sees his teammate lured toward home like a sailor lured toward the rocks by the siren’s call, does not cover first. Even after the runner touched home, if Frazier had been on first, the run would have been negated by a force for the third out. I can’t really blame Frazier, though. He was merely doing what I have done all 15 times I have seen the clip: watching, slack-jawed, unable to believe what is happening.