I have never seen a team suffer so much from ground rule doubles.
Ground rule doubles have killed us this year
- Thread starter Bulldog Bruce
- Start date
How different does our postseason resume look if Woodson's ground rule double stays in the yard vs. UCLA in Arlington?
At first both times and would have scored both times
That's the problem with the rule to me. Of the three I remember this year, man on first would have scored every time.
Yeah, always seems to be the case. If giving runners three bags instead of two is too confusing, they should just make it a ground rule triple
Was at first and rounding 3rd and would have scored easily to end it.
Went back to third and we couldn’t get him in.
Went back to third and we couldn’t get him in.
It’s not fair. 90% of the time the runner at 1st scores in a double. But not in a ground rule double.
Didn’t used to be that way, though. Analytics, plus a lot fewer fat baseball players than in the past has greatly increased that percentage over the last 20-30 years.
Need to address the ridiculous strike 3 / pass ball rule before anything happens with this. Still the worst rule in all of sports.
I think fumbling out of bounds through the end zone resulting in loss of possession needs a look as well.
It’s actually not that fair, if a runner on 1st has already rounded 2nd before the ball even hits the ground, let alone bounces over the wall.
The GRD rules made a ton of sense 150 years ago, when there weren’t cameras everywhere to tell you exactly how far each runner had advanced when the ball was ruled dead.
But in today’s game of ABS, instant replay, etc., it’s very easy to get this right.
What the current rule SHOULD be - each runner (including the batter) gets 2 more bases from wherever they are on the basepaths - at the moment the ball hits the ground. You can’t say when it clears the wall, because that’s impossible to determine. The other caveat is that the next base has to be clear….can’t be a runner between you and the base. No matter what, you have to stop one base behind the lead runner ahead of you.
Scenario 1: Runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Deep fly to the gap. Both runners hold halfway to see if it’s caught. It hits the ground and bounces over the wall. In this case, current rule applies….runner on 2nd gets 3rd and home and scores. Runner on 1st moves to 3rd. Batter moves to 2nd.
Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1, but 2 outs. Both runners go on contact and have already rounded 2nd and 3rd respectively when the ball hits the ground. Hitter has not quite made it to 1st when it hits. In this case, both runners get to score because they each advanced a base prior to ball contacting the ground. Hitter gets 2nd base.
Scenario 3: Same as Scenario 1, except in this case the runner between 2nd and 3rd holds, but runner on 1st thinks it drops and rounds 2nd (leaving 2 runners between 2nd and 3rd). In this case, result would be same as current rule, because you can’t advance any trailing runners to the same as lead runner.
Scenario 4: Same as scenario 2, except hitter has already rounded 1st base before the ball hits the ground. In this case, both runners on 1st and 2nd are allowed to score, AND the hitter is awarded a triple.
The biggest intrigue this would add - bases loaded with less than 2 outs. The decision made by the runner on 3rd could be difference between 2 runs scoring and 2nd / 3rd with less than 2 outs, or 3 runs scoring with runner on 3rd who could also score on just about any ball in play in next AB. Runner on 3rd would have to commit and cross the plate before the ball hits the ground, and NOT hold up. This would become gameflow dependent on what the correct choice would be. 3 run lead, you’re holding up. Trailing by 3, you’re crossing the plate and hoping for the best, if you judge its not going to be caught.