- Runners will not be allowed to change their "pathway to the base" in the middle of a slide to break up a double play. Does it really make any sense to award a team a double play when it wasn't even attempting to turn a double play? In effect, what Rule 6.01(j) does is to remove the “in the judgment of the umpire” part of that rule, replacing it with specific language defining a legal slide. And games have been lost because of that. "I don't understand that. MLB changed the slide rule this season in an attempt to avoid incidents like in last year's playoffs when Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada's leg when trying to break up a double play. That’s because of the new “Chase Utley Rule” in Major League Baseball, which tries to eliminate “illegal slides.” We knew that it wouldn’t be too long before another team was screwed out of […] For the second consecutive night, the Dodgers beat the Padres in dramatic fashion, this time thanks to their fill-in center fielder. LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 10: Ruben Tejada #11 of … The game is better if the stars are on the field. And suffice it to say, not all of it has been supportive. That would be a guy who hasn't played an inning this year, but who already feels the cloud of baseball's new sliding rule hanging over his team's season. After Nick Markakis led off the inning with a walk, Max Scherzer got Hector Olivera to chop a ground ball to third base. I just think they went too far.". "I think it's a culture change," Bowa said. The Chase Utley Rule was established by MLB as an overreaction to the slide by the Dodgers' veteran infielder that broke the leg of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada in the playoffs last season. Markakis’s slide was clearly in violation according to both the letter and the spirit of the rule. Just slide straight into the base,'" Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. If baseball could just find a way to keep it that simple, you could argue that everyone would be better off. But was the Utley Rule also intended to decide games based on what Hinch describes as "these small, fine-print details" that define what now constitutes a legal slide, regardless of any other circumstances involved in the play? It has to find that sweet spot between the mandate of safety and the essence of competition. Utley recklessly attempted to help his team by injuring another player. Associated Press. Chase Utley Slides into the MLB Rule Book. I have been a Blue Jays fan for ages. All Rights Reserved. © 2021 ABG-SI LLC. We'd be happy to answer those questions. Doubtful. Stephen Curry has averaged nearly 40 points per game in his last 10, but it wasn't enough for the Warriors to get past the Celtics. Will Chase Utley's slide lead to rule change? • (2) is able and attempts to reach the base with his hand or foot; The shortstop had already taken the throw and moved away. So it's time, Hinch said, to address the strict interpretation of that fine print, the way baseball has in recent years with the home-plate collision rule and the transfer rule. "When I was learning how to turn double plays, I was learning how to cheat off the bag, how to get away from the bag and not hold the bag. So it's a complete different way of turning double plays.". So if managers can't be certain how a once-common slide into second will be called, the only safe response is to call a meeting and order the troops to slide directly into the bag. The Ozzie Smiths and Robbie Alomars of yesteryear once needed to call on all their acrobatic creativity to turn a double play. Ask the manager of the Astros how he'd rework the Utley Rule in eight easy words, and Hinch has the answer: "There should be no violation with no contact.". Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association jointly announced the inception of a new rule governing slides on possible double plays that bans the … And I hope they're working on it.". Utley made his major league debut on April 4, 2003, as a pinch hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Info. But all it took was a few calls in the first week of the season to drive home a powerful message: It isn't only a rule that has changed. So as baseball considers the furor over the Rasmus call and several others, it's factoring in that basic truth: Change is hard. It was a head-scratching ruling, from second-base ump Dan Bellino, that turned a routine forceout at second into a very strange double play, and left the Astros asking two exceptionally logical questions: How could the guy who slid into second, Colby Rasmus, have been called for interference when he never made contact with anybody on the other team? "I get asked about it every day," said A.J. The world has changed. Last Wednesday we told you how Chase Utley cost the Toronto Blue Jays a ball game that he wasn’t even playing in. That part of the definition states that the runner should be “able and attempt to remain on the base (except home plate) after the completion of the slide.” Markakis wasn’t sliding into second base; he was sliding into Murphy, and the umpires were correct to invoke the new rule to call Olivera out as a penalty for that slide. It’s important to note here that the out at first base was indeed a penalty for an illegal slide. Opening Day provided an early test of MLB's new rule on infield slides, but the league's umpires passed the challenge with flying colors. Let's start with this reality: Change is hard. Share. Well, guess what? "So whether the guy is making a play or not, if there's no contact, I don't see how there could be any possible violation," Hinch said. PHOENIX -- Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association jointly announced the adoption of two rule changes for 2016, most notably clarification of the … The call that caused Major League Baseball to start "burning up the phone lines," in the words of one executive, trying to work out with both umpires and players how this rule should be fairly applied. Chase Utley's slide in the playoffs broke the leg of the Mets' Ruben Tejada. Nick Saban was all over the place during Alabama's spring scrimmage in front of over 47,000 fans, going from trolling the offense to almost getting trampled. Not behind the bag. The face of the "Chase Utley Rule" is, well, Chase Utley. Time to address the slide rule...again? (1:53), More drama for Dodgers-Padres, this time with Clayton Kershaw's bat and Mookie Betts' glove, DeGrom strikes out 9 in row, 14 in all, in win, Twins-Angels games PPD due to COVID concerns, Braves' Kazmar plays in first MLB game since '08, Brewers' Yelich lands on IL with lower back strain, Yankees' Sanchez injures hand; X-rays negative, Royals trade Heath to D-backs for minor leaguer, Five hours, 12 innings and 17 runs: Dodgers-Padres Game 1 lives up to the hype. They don't want them on the 60-day disabled list.". In that play in Milwaukee, his player slid past the bag, in violation of the letter of the rule. By Alex Ott* It was the fibula crack heard ‘round the world. That risk/reward used to be the essence of baseball. ESPN's Buster Olney breaks down baseball's new slide rule. Utley, who was on first base when Justin Turner doubled into leftfield, crossed into fair territory halfway between third and home and made a beeline directly for Norris, who was standing to the fair side of home plate, leaving the plate full exposed for a legal slide by Utley. Other executives in the game are downplaying the odds of that happening any time soon. Despite weather, Opening Day still has plenty of excitement. Taken together, Utley's and Markakis’s slides suggest that, while the new rules are having their desired effect in getting umpires to honor MLB’s long-standing interference and obstruction rules, the league still has work to do to retrain its players to avoid those illegal slides in the first place. They're paying them a lot of money. MLB’s new rule protecting infielders from aggressive slides was invoked for the first time on Monday, providing us with a textbook example of what is now an illegal slide as well as a primer on how the new rule works. And all sides acknowledged that it would be impossible to know exactly how everyone would adapt to this change until the games started. The game needs to evolve, of course. He isn't the only one who sees it that way. And it appears likely that the next time a play like this comes along, it will result in a very different ruling. DALLAS — Momentum continues to build toward a fundamental change in baseball safety that could be remembered as “The Chase Utley Rule.” Commissioner Rob … Ask managers everywhere if they think it's even possible to break up a double play anymore, in a post-Utley Rule universe, and they shake their heads. There was no need for the umpires to invoke the home plate collision rule on that play, as Norris easily tagged Utley out. Essentially, that means they can't start their slide in midair and make contact with the infielder at or near the knee, with either a leg, arm or the body, before they've made contact with the ground. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. It's hard to believe the union thinks so. Not surprisingly, the Rasmus play has been a huge topic in these discussions. Anthony Rendon fielded the ball and threw to Daniel Murphy to start a double play, but Murphy’s pivot throw was not in time to get Olivera at first. (1:53). MLB Announces New ‘Chase Utley’ Rule. And there's no doubt it is going to succeed in doing that, in exactly the same way that the "Buster Posey Rule" has been keeping catchers out of the emergency room. Not in front of the bag. And by that we mean ... CAN THERE BE INTERFERENCE WITHOUT CONTACT? Gregory Bull / AP. Though the ruling on the field was that two runs scored, officials in New York overturned it. Where is this leading? Breaking up a double play has always been illegal. "But if you just tell the athlete, 'All right, we're avoiding contact, we're not going to blow up the shortstop and we're not going to blow up the second baseman' ... that's very easy for players to understand.". So what happens the next time there's a play that fits that description? 0 Comments. But the voice of the Chase Utley Rule? - If a runner makes contact with the infielder illegally, both he and the batter would be called out. I don't want to lose games. asked Philadelphia Phillies coach Larry Bowa, his voice throbbing with incredulity. Rule 6.01 (j) reads that the runner has to make a "bona fide slide" and should be "able and attempt to remain on the base (except home plate) after the completion of the slide." New York Mets captain David Wright gives his thoughts on the controversial collision between Chase Utley and Ruben Tejada that changed Game 2 of the NLDS in LA. Not to the satisfaction of the Astros, anyway. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers. Though Markakis did hit the ground before reaching the base (albeit barely) and was well within reach of the base, he slid directly at Murphy with the obvious intention of breaking up the double play, and he did so with such force that his momentum carried him well beyond the bag. But in the year 2016, league officials and umpires are still debating whether that now deserves to be known as "interference." "If it's not even an attempt to make a double play, why is it an automatic double play?" Hinch, frustrated manager of the Houston Astros. But Hinch won't be happy to learn that, after nearly a week of debating that principal, it appears that the folks in charge aren't sure they agree.

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