Last weekend, the White Sox played the Rays. In addition to the horrendous baserunning the Rays displayed, which has been typical of the horrible baserunning by Sox opponents this year, the strategies of the Rays’ manager need to be called into question. The Rays led the June 12 game 6-3 in the 7th. The Sox had a man on third with 2 outs and Abreu up. I understand the logic of not wanting to bring the tying run to the plate, but I think it makes more sense to not let the other team’s best hitter beat you I said they should walk him. They pitched to Abreu, and he homered to make it 6-5. LaRoche then struck out to end the inning.
The next day, in the first inning, the Sox had a man on second with one out, Abreu up. Again, I don’t let the other team’s best hitter beat me. They pitched to Abreu, who singled in the run to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. LaRoche then hit into a double play.
In the Cubs-Reds series that weekend, there were many calls at crucial times of the games that went against the Cubs and that were overruled by replay challenges. Many of these calls on their own would likely have cost the Cubs some of these games. How anyone can be against replay after watching this series is beyond me. Without correcting these calls, the Cubs probably lose some of the games instead of winning them.
There was a play in one of the Sox-Rays games where the Rays runner on first was off with the pitch, and the batter hit a deep ground-rule double. The runner would have easily scored, but was told to go back to third. Either more judgment has to be used in these instances, or the rule has to be changed. When a runner will clearly score, he should be allowed to. I have said for a long time that all new ballparks need to be built so the chances of a ground-rule double are minimal. Balls should not be bouncing into the stands.