Rundown: 6-3-2-5-1-5-3-6

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by jmkupka

OK, slight hijack (to the only active thread )

The ol' obstruction call:
Say, in that prolonged rundown, runner is obstructed going toward home, maybe 10' from the plate. Might've been tagged out at home regardless (by the back-up fielder).
But, runner reverses direction, a few more throws back & forth, eventually tagged out by a hair sliding into 3B.
HTBT sure, but generally, with that sort of continuous rundown, are we protecting the runner to the bag where they finally get tagged?

The Q is whether the runner would have reached home absent the OBS.
Given OBS, the fielder did not have the ball and so whether another fielder before home matters and where the ball is going at the time.

Let's say no other fielder before home, ball still near 3rd, probable award of home.

Let's say ball coming to fielder who OBS and could have had an easy tag; then the judgment is harder, was runner hindered enough that tag could be avoided w/o it.