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Originally Posted by greymule
The following play is technically OBS in ASA, but I can't bring myself to call it. I've seen it many times, and earlier this year I had the clearest example:
Ground ball to F5, whose throw to 1B is obviously going to beat the runner easily. F3 has to reach to her left to glove the ball, and in doing so moves into BR's path. An instant before the ball arrives, BR alters her stride in reaction and is out by two steps.
A higher-up at ASA told me that the OBS rule was not intended to generate an OBS call on that play, but I still have players and coaches, in both SP and FP, claim that F3 "blocked the base without the ball."
(NCAA's rule is different, so this is not an issue in college.)
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Inherent to the OBS rule is another aspect that we rarely talk about in the following context. We award an obstructed runner the base we think the runner would have reached had there been no OBS. If the obstructed runner would never have reached the base because they would have clearly been out (in this case, due to a force), then how can you award that base?
I realize that the above statement is not how OBS is taught, and I encourage you not to extend this interpretation too far beyond the sitch just presented by greymule.