Baserunning on How to Score Baseball

Stolen Bases

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stolen Bases#

A stolen base is one of the most exciting plays in baseball — a runner taking a base entirely through his own speed and instinct, with no help from the batter. Scoring it is straightforward once you know the notation, and it’s one of the few events in a game that happens completely between pitches, independent of the at-bat in progress.

What Counts as a Stolen Base#

A stolen base (SB) is credited when a runner advances to the next base without the benefit of a hit, walk, error, or balk — and without the batter helping by putting the ball in play. The runner simply goes, and if he’s safe, it’s a stolen base.

Wild Pitches and Passed Balls

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wild Pitches and Passed Balls#

Wild pitches and passed balls are two different ways a pitch can get away from the battery — the pitcher-catcher tandem — allowing baserunners to advance. They happen mid-at-bat, between pitches, completely independently of the batter. Knowing the difference between them, and how to record each, is one of the finer points of keeping a complete scorecard.

Wild Pitch (WP)#

A wild pitch is the pitcher’s fault. The pitch was thrown so far out of the zone — too high, too low, too far outside — that a catcher making a reasonable effort could not have stopped it. The ball gets by, and any runners on base can advance.

Tag Ups

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tag Ups#

The tag-up rule is one of those baseball rules that sounds complicated but makes intuitive sense once you see it in action. When a fly ball is caught for an out, runners don’t have to stay frozen — they can advance, as long as they first return to (or remain touching) the base they were on when the ball was caught. That act of returning to the base before advancing is the “tag up.”

The Ghost Runner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Ghost Runner#

Since 2020, Major League Baseball has used an automatic runner rule in extra innings: at the start of each extra-innings half-inning, a runner is automatically placed on second base. No one hit their way on. No one walked. The runner just appears. Fans and scorers have taken to calling this the ghost runner.

The rule exists to keep extra-inning games from turning into four-hour endurance tests. It creates immediate scoring pressure: every half-inning beyond the ninth starts with a runner in scoring position and nobody out. Teams adjusted their strategy quickly — sacrifice bunts and squeeze plays made a comeback almost overnight.