when do you stop playing baseball?

[FIOMENO]

runners on first and third, nobody out, in the bottom of the 5th. the score was 9-3, the home team is ahead. the runner on first steals and the visitors coach goes bananas. when do you stop playing the game of baseball? there were still two more innings to play.

[LDUB]

Originally posted by FIOMENO
runners on first and third, nobody out, in the bottom of the 5th. the score was 9-3, the home team is ahead. the runner on first steals and the visitors coach goes bananas. when do you stop playing the game of baseball? there were still two more innings to play.

How about this guy tells his catcher to throw the guy out.

[ozzy6900]

Originally posted by FIOMENO
runners on first and third, nobody out, in the bottom of the 5th. the score was 9-3, the home team is ahead. the runner on first steals and the visitors coach goes bananas. when do you stop playing the game of baseball? there were still two more innings to play.

Play the game! Don't like getting romped, get a "Mercy Rule". Don't like that, go play jacks!!!!!!!!!!!

[andrewm]

From a coaching standpoint, it depends on the circumstances.

I coached in a 9-10 year old drafted league this year. In a league of 10 teams there were 3 clearly evident bottom dwellers that had no hope of beating any team other than each other. Every time we would play them, we would "play" for two innings, then call off the dogs. Typically games went 3-4 innings in the 1.5 hour time limit. Assuming we had a big lead after two, we'd stop stealing. Those kids were so poorly coached we felt sorry for them.

Against other teams, we never called off the dogs. And in tournament ball, you have to run it up, if possible, to try and get a mercy rule to save pitching.

In USSSA, there is a 15-run after 3 and 8-run after four mercy rule. So, with a 6-run lead, I agree with getting that 8th run in scoring position. A base hit ends the game early. Sounds like that defensive coach needs to develop a "1st & 3rd" defensive play to prevent that.

[WindyCityBlue]

Sorry coaches, but...

We have leagues that don't keep score because we don't want to hurt little Bobby's feelings. Life is about adapting, evolving and overcoming obstacles. Little wins and losses are not the problem...keeping them in persepctive is.

When a father goes bananas because his kid's team is getting beat, the problem is the father. Most of those kids probably don't care. Yes, losses sting, they're supposed to. That is why winning feels so good.

At that level, I admire the coach that takes the win in stride with the loss. Look at the best coaches of our generation. Thay realize that it is a game afterall...not war.

[DG]

I think you should score as many runs as possible, until you win by 10. If you are the home team leading 9-3 in the fifth it is your duty to score 4 runs if you can. Now if you are leading by 15 in the 4th, and it is apparent the other team will not catch up, then you might call off stealing.

[bluezebra]

"when do you stop playing baseball?"

When you can't hit the breaking ball.

[andrewm]

WindyCityBlue, there is a huge difference between beating a team and humiliating a team. I see no advantage to beating a team 20-0 versus 10-0 in drafted league play. You end up looking like a bully. In drafted leagues it is more about having fun than winning. Sure you play to win. But you can also win with class. I coach every game to win, but little Johnny is just as happy with a 10-0 win versus a 20-0 win. And little Jimmy on the other team still has some self esteem left.

You just never know when your team might be on the other side of that 20-0 score...

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by andrewm

WindyCityBlue, there is a huge difference between beating a team and humiliating a team. I see no advantage to beating a team 20-0 versus 10-0 in drafted league play. You end up looking like a bully. In drafted leagues it is more about having fun than winning. Sure you play to win. But you can also win with class. I coach every game to win, but little Johnny is just as happy with a 10-0 win versus a 20-0 win. And little Jimmy on the other team still has some self esteem left.

You just never know when your team might be on the other side of that 20-0 score...

Bobby Bowden of Florida State used to be accused of running up the score in a football game. His answer which I agree with is: The Third / Fourth String plus kids who do not suit up for every game were playing.

What are you going to tell a kid who hardly plays, Just take a knee on every play.

In baseball, there are many kids who do not get to play all that much. When the game is a blow-out it gives the coach a chance to play these kids which otherwise wouldn't see any action.

So while I agree it's humiliating for a team to beat someone 20-0, it's not humiliating if the coach is putting in their "extra" players to get playing time. In addition, that's why ALL Leagues should have a Mercy Rule.

In addition, if a team does get beat by that score, then they are probably in a league over their heads to begin with and should go down a "notch" and play in a league where they can compete.

Pete Booth

[WindyCityBlue]

Originally posted by andrewm
WindyCityBlue, there is a huge difference between beating a team and humiliating a team. I see no advantage to beating a team 20-0 versus 10-0 in drafted league play. You end up looking like a bully. In drafted leagues it is more about having fun than winning. Sure you play to win. But you can also win with class. I coach every game to win, but little Johnny is just as happy with a 10-0 win versus a 20-0 win. And little Jimmy on the other team still has some self esteem left.

You just never know when your team might be on the other side of that 20-0 score...

The umpire is NEVER in charge of ensuring that everyone gets a warm, fuzzy feeling from his contest.

Perspective is the name of the game. Keep the wins and losses in persepctive and we won't have kids on "You Gotta See This" or "Sports Uncensored". The moment an umpire tells a coach or player how to play, he loses all credibility. This is an officiating website...the parenting one is somewhere else.

[greymule]

Six runs is not such a lead that you don't stop trying however you can to score. Twelve, fifteen runs—another story.

However, when you're way ahead, it is not rolling up the score simply to keep getting hits. It's bush to steal, though—to use strategic gambles to try to push more runs across.

In MLB, if a team had a 10-run lead, no one would consider it running up the score if somebody hit a home run to make it 11. But even in the dog-eat-dog pros, if a team tried a double steal to push another run across, somebody's going to be thrown at the next inning.

To use a football analogy, if you put in your subs and your guy runs 80 yards for a touchdown while you're playing conservative ball, that's not running up the score. Throwing long bombs is different.

[teacherspit]

OK, I have one from a little different point.
Local 9-10 tournament. They had a travesty rule in effect. 10 rules after 4 or 3.5 if visitors.
Home team up by 9 10th run at third. Batter ropes one to the fence and the third base coach holds his runner.
Now I know that the player was under no obligation to run. No force here. But I look at this as an unsportsman like conduct behavior.

I did not say anything out loud. But I did not like what happend. Well the next batter stuck out. And the home team won under the travesty rule in the bottom of the 5th on a pass ball. In the end it was still a shortened game, but instead it took one inning longer.

Oh yeah, the home team was a select team. And this was not a select tournament. No class by these people.
The visitor coach took it in stride, a lot of class. He just laughed and told his boys good job.

[DG]

Originally posted by teacherspit
OK, I have one from a little different point.
Local 9-10 tournament. They had a travesty rule in effect. 10 rules after 4 or 3.5 if visitors.
Home team up by 9 10th run at third. Batter ropes one to the fence and the third base coach holds his runner.
Now I know that the player was under no obligation to run. No force here. But I look at this as an unsportsman like conduct behavior.

I did not say anything out loud. But I did not like what happend. Well the next batter stuck out. And the home team won under the travesty rule in the bottom of the 5th on a pass ball. In the end it was still a shortened game, but instead it took one inning longer.

Oh yeah, the home team was a select team. And this was not a select tournament. No class by these people.
The visitor coach took it in stride, a lot of class. He just laughed and told his boys good job.

I'm wondering why the jerk allowed his runner to go home on a passed ball, when he would not send the runner on a hit to outfield?