
Winning The World Series With Math - ssclafani
http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/64589/title/Math_Trek__Winning_the_World_Series_with_math
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julius_geezer
1\. Stupid question, but are runners allowed to run out there in foul
territory?

2\. The most usual cases where speed matters are two and three base advances--
double, triple, second to home on a single. I'd think the advantage would
diminish in proportion.

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corin_
Question one is a little complicated (but not very).

Rather than paraphrase, here's the relevant paragraph from the official rules:

"Any runner is out when he runs more than three feet away from his baseline to
avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder
fielding a batted ball. A runner’s baseline is established when the tag
attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is
attempting to reach safely."

That's from 7.08 (a) (1).

I can't see any way this rule could prevent them from following the theory in
this article - _possibly_ it might be problematic if the tag attempt occurs
while he is still right near his original base (or home plate), but in that
case he would surely be tagged out anyway.

