Rundown!

Sometimes, if the ball gets to the base well in advance of the runner, said runner may just try to run back to where they started. As long as the runner isn’t being forced, that’s fine, but it can still lead to something like this:

• the runner is already halfway to the next base, when the defense tries to throw behind them…
• in which case the runner breaks for the next base again…
• which means another throw to that base…
• and now the ball and the runner are just going back and forth.

This type of play is called a “rundown,” although if you’re more whimsically-minded, you can also call it a pickle. On a rundown, the fielders will generally try to get two sets of players on either end, who will throw the ball back and forth while getting closer to the runner, and eventually get the tag. The runner, meanwhile, can always try to avoid the tag, but they can’t run too far out of the way to do so, or they will be called out for leaving the basepath. Most rundowns are over in a couple of throws, but as always, there are exceptions.

The scrambling around the basepaths continues until all of the runners are either safe or out. Often times, if the defense fixates on a specific runner, the trailing runners will use that time to move up; if this includes the batter/runner, this does not turn a single into a double or a double into a triple— they get credit for the initial hit, with the advancement coming on the rundown. And of course, if the defense does start to go after a trailing runner, a lead runner can try to take advantage of the chaos to move up, and even score¹. The defense, meanwhile, can always attempt to go after those runners instead, which can create other rundowns, which increases the general chaos happening around the infield.