🍌 in The Box

[George K]

Rules for Savannah Bananas Baseball:

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1. Games are won by points, instead of runs: the team that scores the most runs in an inning gets one point, except in the final inning when every run counts as one point. The final inning may be earlier than the ninth inning, due to the below noted time limit. When the home team has scored enough runs to "win" any inning other than the final inning, the inning immediately ends.
2. There is a "two-hour" time limit; no new inning may start after 1 hour and 50 minutes have elapsed. Once an inning starts, it is played to completion.
3. Batters cannot step out of the batters box. Doing so results in an automatic strike.
4. Batters cannot bunt. Doing so results in an automatic ejection.
5. Batters can attempt to steal first base at any point during their at bat, including on passed balls or wild pitches.
6. Walks are called "sprints". After ball four, the batter is allowed to advance as far around the bases as he can while the ball is sequentially thrown to all of the fielders other than the pitcher, starting with the catcher. The ball remains dead, with the batter-runner not liable to be put out, until the four infielders and three outfielders have each touched the ball. This often results in the batter-runner advancing to second base on the sprint.
7. No mound visits are allowed.
8. Foul balls caught by fans are counted as outs.
9. Ties are broken by a "showdown tiebreaker", an abbreviated extra innings format. Each team's half-inning during the showdown ends with any out or with any run scored by the batter—if the batter puts the ball in play, he must attempt to score. A batter who draws a walk advances to second base, with the hitting team allowed to send a new batter to the plate. At any point during the showdown, a home run hit over the outfield wall immediately ends the game in favor of the batting team. If the game is still tied after a showdown round, another showdown round is played, until there is a winner. Scenarios differ by showdown round: In showdown round 1, each team selects a pitcher and hitter to face off, with the defense fielding only their pitcher, catcher, and a single fielder. In showdown round 2, the fielder is eliminated. In showdown round 3 (and later), the fielder returns, but each half-inning starts with the bases loaded, and each run scored counts as a point.
10. Each team is allowed to challenge certain calls by the umpires: whether a ball was fair or foul, whether or not a runner was tagged out (at home plate or on the basepaths), and whether a ball was caught or not. A team retains its right to challenge until they lose a challenge, after which they may not challenge any calls for the remainder of the game. The fans can also challenge one play per game, as determined by a fan who is chosen to initiate the challenge. Challenged plays are reviewed by the broadcast team, who relay their ruling to the umpire.
11. “The Golden Batter Rule” - One time in a game, a team may send any hitter in the lineup to bat in any spot. The goal of this rule is so a team can have their best hitter hit when the game is on the line.

[taiwan_girl]

Probably fun to watch!!

[George K]

And this:

Other non-standard baseball activities are sometimes used for entertainment purposes. For example, an August 2023 game featured an at bat where the pitcher and batter played rock paper scissors before each pitch: each time the pitcher won, the batter had to bat from the opposite side of home plate as he normally would, and each time the batter won, the pitcher needed to announce what type of pitch he was about to throw.

[Horace]

That lady is just this side of a percussionist. What's the shaking globe instrument called that Don Henley "plays" sometimes?

[Jolly]

Calling Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks is traditionally played at Tiger home football games.

Last year, he did a concert in Tiger Stadium for 102,000 fans. They all sang...

Link to video

[LuFins Dad]

Batters can attempt to steal first base at any point during their at bat, including on passed balls or wild pitches.

I bet you could force the issue by starting the steal while the pitcher is committed to the pitch but before he’s thrown the ball…

[Aqua Letifer]

@LuFins-Dad said in in The Box:

Batters can attempt to steal first base at any point during their at bat, including on passed balls or wild pitches.

I bet you could force the issue by starting the steal while the pitcher is committed to the pitch but before he’s thrown the ball…

If he keeps his cool, no way the batter outruns the throw to home and then to first.

[LuFins Dad]

@Aqua-Letifer said in in The Box:

@LuFins-Dad said in in The Box:

Batters can attempt to steal first base at any point during their at bat, including on passed balls or wild pitches.

I bet you could force the issue by starting the steal while the pitcher is committed to the pitch but before he’s thrown the ball…

If he keeps his cool, no way the batter outruns the throw to home and then to first.

Not quite. If he keeps his cool, the catcher keeps his cool, and the 1st baseman keeps his cool…

Even if the pitcher delivers cleanly and doesn’t throw a wild pitch, there’s a chance the catcher overreacts and misses the pitch or throws wild themself. It’s compounded if the batter is a rightie and crossed the catcher’s line of sight, disrupting his view of the ball.

From a risk perspective, it feels like the rules are weighted against the hitter with the Foul Ball and Rock Paper Scissors rules, so a 25% success rate would be highly successful.

[Aqua Letifer]

Right but it's not a sure thing. They just changed the rules to provide an incentive to try, which is awesome.

[taiwan_girl]

@Jolly said in in The Box:

Calling Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks

I saw him in concert. He puts on a very good show.

I know he has played his top hits hundreds (thousands?) of times in concert, but he is able to make it seem as though he is still excited to play them.