Catcher Runner Stalemate

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by Dakota

If the game has a time limit, they can spend the time however they want!

I agree, but at the same time do we have a sportsmanship issue.

For example, an event I was asked to work last weekend (I had to decline, due to umpiring elsewhere), had a drop dead time limit (game ends at that point, score reverts to last completed inning).

If Team A is up 1 run, and team B has the runner on third, would it not benefit Team A to stall, by continually playing this game of chicken. Three or four pitches of 10 seconds each "chicken" and now were could be running into a time issue. Team B's runner is not obligated to go back and is likely off the base in an attempt to draw a throw and possibly come home to score the tying run.

I think this is a situation where we need to know the level of teams playing and if possible the intent. If we as umpires know the team is trying to stall the game, do we have the responsibility to stop that stalling and create a fair playing field for both teams.

It's a tricky area, but it's similar to an intentional foul in basketball. We can give the benefit of doubt to the player committing the foul under normal circumstances, but if they come out and tell us, I'm going to foul #13 as soon as the ball comes in, we know this is intentional and now it needs to be handled different. If we know a team is intentionally trying to stall it can be a sportsmanship issue. If there is any doubt, we can't make a call on it. (Sadly, I'm sure some coaches will yell out of the dugout, "don't throw it back right away, we need to kill time" ).