MLB unwritten rules: About time to kill all that nonsense

The first of the ridiculous MLB unwritten rules: don’t run up the score.

The frequently listed first unwritten rule at many levels of baseball and softball is: Don’t show up the opponent. This is the first tenet of good sportsmanship. And surely, the first corollary to this rule is: Don’t run up the score.

So, what should the Padres have done Aug. 16, up 10-3 on the Rangers in the eighth inning? If Tingley was so concerned after the fact about swinging at a 3-0 pitch, and not showing up the other team with a hitter clearly able to launch a 112-mph grand slam, two questions are begging:

1. Why not hit for him? Oh, well, maybe he wasn’t quite ready to do that.
2. Would he have let him swing 3-1 or 3-2? You know the answer is yes for 3-2.

Not showing up an opponent is obviously important at lower levels of baseball, and even for adults playing recreational, or prize-package softball. This is why there are mercy rules related to scoring.

And other rules related to this come into play for Little Leaguers. The 150-pound 12-year-old should pull his punch a bit on the fastballs to 9-year-olds. He or she shouldn’t be throwing at or near the youngest players. The biggest kid on the field shouldn’t run over the 4-foot-8, pudgy kid catching on a play at home, and so forth.

None of this sort of thinking applies to MLB players. MLB players are professionals. Their “game” is a business. Individual stats do matter, and by the way, in 2020 there are no more guys built like Smoky Burgess for Giancarlo Stanton to run over.

(And for what it’s worth, Burgess would have shaken that off.)

Breaking an MLB unwritten rule is applying pressure, even if it’s done unintentionally as Tatis apparently did. This is what professionals do.

Again, if Tingley thought a bases-loaded situation while ahead 10-3 in the eighth inning might be too tempting for his best young hitter, and he were really, really concerned about appearing a good sport, why wouldn’t he substitute the striving young player at the end of the bench for Tatis? Give him an RBI opportunity.