11-08-2018, 02:33 PM
Baseball's unwritten rules are pretty dumb overall, but let's talk about one that's especiallyludicrous. It's the one that says teams shouldn't "disrespect" opponents in a blowout by stealing bases or stretching singles to doubles, or doing anything else that would run up the score.The idea is that, with the outcome supposedly decided, the team with Rafael Devers Jersey the big number in the run column shouldnot "show up" the other team (whatever that means). You know, profe sional courtesy. Or something.MORE: Ranking baseball's five dumbest unwritten rulesThe only problem is that we keep seeing real-life evidence of why this rule can cost the leading team. In fact, one could argueit's actually the opposite of playing the game "the right way."We saw it again Thursday, when the Nationals overcame a 9-0 lead against the Marlins and won 14-12, thanks to an eight Mookie Betts Cool Base Navy Jersey -RBI night from Trea Turner. Under the Holy Unwritten Rules of Baseball, the Marlins would'vebeen wrong to go out of their way to addto that 9-0 lead. It's just flat-out disrespectful, we've been told over and over. #WellActually, it's not.In full disclosure, I didn't watch the whole game, so I don't know whether Miami held back on trying to score once they were up 9-0. But that's beside the point. I'm only using this game to illustrate the larger point, which is that MLB teams should never stop trying to score.I won't go so far as to say that literallyno lead is safe, but a brief look at recent baseball history shows that a lot of seemingly insurmountable leads have been overcome. In each of the past 20 seasons, at least one team has blown a lead of seven runs or more, according J.D. Martinez Youth Replica Player Jersey to the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index. A nine-run lead has been lost at least fivetimes, and a 10-run lead has evaporated at least three times.And then there'sthe best example of all time:Mariners-Indians, 2001. So, yeah, run up the score when you have the chance. Because you never know.I can hear the naysayers.Come on, Jason. These are the exceptions. Most big leads don't get squandered. Respect the game!That's true, but until teams can tell with certainty which ones won't get squandered, it's probably best to keep scoring.MORE: 10 single-season MLB feats we'll never see againCoincidentally, the Nats found themselves involved in another recent instance of this unwritten-rule insanity.On June 26, Rays pitcher Sergio Romo struck out the Nats' Michael A. Taylor to end a Andrew Benintendi Jersey game, then started jawing at him as Taylor walked back to the dugout, leading to a heated benches-clearing incident. Taylor's sin, in Romo's mind, was that he stole a base three weeks earlierwhen the Nats were winning 11-2 in the sixth inning."No disrespect to anybody on that team other than the person I felt disrespected me and my team, Romo told reporters after the verbal jabs at Taylor.This is laughably stupid. It's always been laughably stupid. But Romo's not alone. Remember earlier this season when the Twins' Brian Dozier got mad at the Orioles' Chance Sisco for bunting in the ninth inning with a six-run lead? Again, laughably stupid.But I'm willing to meet the strict adherents of this rule halfway. New rule:If a team believes that an opponent's lead is too big for stolen bases, making steal attempts "disrespectful" because the outcome of the game is supposedly guaranteed, then the team that's trailing should agree to cede the game right then. It's only logical.But something tells me that Romo, Dozierand others might not be willing to do this.So go ahead and steal a base when youre up 9-0, turn a double into a triple if you can. Never stop trying to win. Any Pablo Sandoval Jerseys other approach is ludicrous.