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What if baseball changed the automatic-double rule when there are two outs?
Rule Proposal

What if baseball changed the automatic-double rule when there are two outs?

September 04, 2026
Under the current rule, a runner who starts on first base must stop at third whenever a fair ball bounces out of play for an automatic double, regardless of the number of outs. Nick Elam proposes a small change: with two outs, allow that runner to score. His reasoning is that runners are far more aggressive with two outs, and available data cited in the episode shows they score on live-ball doubles more than half the time in those situations. Nick argues that the current rule can give the defense an artificial break by stopping a runner who likely would have scored if the ball had stayed in play. His proposal keeps the existing rule with zero or one out, but changes it with two outs to better reflect how the play would most likely have unfolded. He gives the idea a +7 on the Sports Rule Pod Good Idea Scale, calling it a more fair and logical compromise than the current one.

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