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My question was rhetorical.
8-3-2 Situation C in the current Casebook tells the tale: A fielder CANNOT be in the basepath without the ball in his possession, nor can he be in the base path waiting for the ball to arrive without giving the runner some access to home plate.
Contact does not have to occur. I won't let a coach contend that only two sides of the plate were blocked therefore the runner still had access to the back sides.
I think that where this will be fun will involve steals at second or third. The fielder can anticipate the throw and put a foot or knee down to partially block the base (8-3-2 Casebook Situation L). You can bet that the better coaches are instructing their fielders to do that and immediately abandon their position on the tag so that we cannot see a partial or complete block. (Given that we are tracking the ball and watching for a tag.)
This should be fun.
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