Should Max Kepler Have Stayed at Third?

[Matthew Trueblood]

Sport is never more important than when it demands our full humanity, but even in those moments, it also applies pressure to that humanity. It's a game. Someone has to win. How badly can you want it, before you want it too much?

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

For those who didn't see the Twins' 10-6 loss to the Mariners Tuesday night, here's all you need to know to catch up for this particular piece: In the bottom of the eighth inning, on a dribbler to the right side of the diamond, Austin Martin legged out an infield single. In the process, he slid headfirst, trying to avoid both a potential tag and a potential collision with Mariners pitcher Taylor Saucedo, but (in one of those cruel twists that fate sometimes dispenses, on diamonds and elsewhere) he ended up causing an injury, instead. Martin slid into Saucedo, who badly injured his knee and crumpled to the ground.

Max Kepler was at third base, having scampered there from his starting station at second when the ball went to the right side. The score was 6-5 Mariners, at the time, and as Saucedo fell and the ball rolled away, Kepler briefly hesitated, then took off for home plate. He scored the tying run, uncontested.

The Twins tie the game after a scary situation in the 8th #MNTwins | #MLB pic.twitter.com/dv6pr0umzE

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) May 8, 2024

After the game, Kepler was rueful, but not quite contrite about that decision. Philosophically, in his mind, it was his duty to score. The ball was live, and a coach was there, telling him to run.

Max Kepler knew he had to go on the play where Seattle pitcher Tayler Saucedo was injured, but he didn't feel great about it. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/cPb5ApwZzv

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) May 8, 2024

As far as it goes, that's a reasonable stance. It's an especially tough call late in a close game. Kepler's run was important, and in this day and age, we (regrettably) have to consider the implications for the perceived integrity of the contest if a player doesn't seize every opportunity to score, given the way the league facilitates and even invites gambling on its product. Kepler's wiring, and that of Tommy Watkins, told him scoring there was non-optional.

I want to make something clear, though: he did have a choice. In that moment, even though it was impossible to know whether Saucedo's injury will be career-altering and no reason to think it will be life-altering, he could have stopped and let Saucedo be more important than the tying run. We can, and I think we should, make other people more important than the vehicles through which we interact with them, like sports or business transactions or parties or city buses. It's not Martin's fault that Saucedo got hurt, and Kepler is more right than he is wrong about what the majority of people inside Target Field Tuesday night expected of him once Saucedo went down. I just think we should change that.

In our society, the broad assumption is that other people's misfortune is (if not their own fault) their own problem. In many, many instances throughout our daily lives, we instinctively reject the notion that those misfortunes should be allowed to inconvenience us--partially because we fear (with some sound basis) that no one would allow our misfortune to inconvenience them, were the roles reversed. Sports are an especially (even unavoidably) dog-eat-dog world. They're partially about finding out who wants it more, and that makes it especially hard to prioritize people over runs and points and wins in moments like that one. Sports aren't as valuable or engaging if we permit the possibility that anything else matters more than winning.

It does, though. In that moment, Kepler could have stayed at third. He didn't do anything wrong, by our current norms and expectations. Nonetheless, I think he missed an opportunity to do something truly right--or, maybe, righteous. He'd have been at third with one out, anyway. He might well have still come around to score, although we can't come anywhere near assuming he would have. It doesn't matter. I want to call this out now, so that next time a similar situation arises, we can come a little bit closer to expecting better of people. Eventually, we can play a version of sports in which everyone wants to win, and everyone knows it, but everyone also understands when someone's pain (or triumph) transcends the outcome of a given game or inning. I don't think we're all that close to that, yet, but we should try to get there.

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[RpR]

NO, its baseball, you play to win, it is not a health cliinic.

[Schmoeman5]

Look. I feel for Saucedo. It's unfortunate.  But this isn't the Girl Scouts. For 100 years it was OK to crash into defenders. It's been changed for players safety. I get it. But no. And it doesn't make the person who takes advantage of these circumstances a bad person either.

[danielp19653]

yeah I get the feeling of wanting to not take advantage of an injury but if you want to stop it then it has to be umpires calling a dead ball. Should hitters go back to the dugout instead of running when outfielders collide since they could have caught it without running into each other? Should we not tag out a runner who may have made it if he doesn't pull a hamstring? I agree with Kepler, you don't feel good about it and you hope for the best for the guy but you have to run.

[Patzky]

Did JD Martinez, who smacked the arm of Cardinals catcher Wilson Contreras last night, decline first base? 😐 Perhaps the Mariners' four runs in the ninth inning were karmic.

[Schmoeman5]

I only want to add. If Kepler is merciful and decides NOT to run in that situation, he'd be getting crucified today.

[Matthew Trueblood]

3 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

I only want to add. If Kepler is merciful and decides NOT to run in that situation, he'd be getting crucified today.

If he doesn't eventually score, yes. I regard that as a bad thing, though, and our problem, not (the hypothetical) Kepler's.

[Muppet]

First. There was nothing stopping the first baseman who was standing next to the downed pitcher pick up the ball and throw it home. 
Second. I don't know if there is some sort of protocol for when a player is down, but nobody standing nearby even acknowledged that a guy might have just broken his ankle next to them. They all just sort of stood around waiting for something to happen, blatantly ignoring the guy writhing around on the ground in pain. If they wanted to try to throw Kepler out, they could have. 

[Doctor Gast]

I don't think I've ever seen an opposition runner stop running when a Twin got hurt. It's part of the game, Of course, we feel bad about the hurt person 

[USAFChief]

This is satire, right?

 

 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

So if outfielders collide and are both down,  the runners just stop right?????     Silliest argument ever heard on this board.  

[USAFChief]

If the SS trips trying to field our ground ball, stop running to 1st until we learn if the SS hurt himself.

In fact, the Seattle hitter who should have been out when Jeffers couldn't find the foul popup should declare himself out. I mean, fair play is fair play.

[Schmoeman5]

9 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

This is satire, right?

 

 

I think its taking the rooms temperature 

[BK432]

I feel like most people here have reading comprehension issues sometimes LOL.

Matthew, I love the article. We should want society and the world to be a better place, and put the health concern in the moment ahead of a run or a win. As you allude to, it's not going to happen tomorrow, or next month, or next year. But we can and should aspire to be that world.

I would run home if I were Kepler. But I'd feel just as crappy about it as he does. Imagine a world where we could stay put and everyone would support and understand that decision.

[Twins GFP]

10 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

This is satire, right?

 

 

This was my first thought...

In every major professional sport, from the Pro's down to HS, everybody knows that the game continues through a player injury until the whistle blows.  This is done to prevent teams from faking injuries to stop a run, a basket, etc.

Kepler races back.  He makes the catch near the wall!  Wait! he is holding on to his hamstring.  It looks like he pulled a hamstring and is limping.  Polanco, showing respect to Kepler, stays at third and refuses to tag up.  There are now 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning, with the Twins still up 6-5...

Every player knows and accepts this.  To try to tie this into the human condition is a stretch to say the least.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

In pretty much any sport, you go until the play is stopped by the ref/ump/official.  Period.  There was no way to know whether it was a serious issue when the player went down (certainly not in the heat of the moment).  From the third base vantage point, he could have just as easily popped up, grabbed the ball and thrown him out.  No controversy here. 

[Old Twins Cap]

Quote

14 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

In pretty much any sport, you go until the play is stopped by the ref/ump/official.  Period.  There was no way to know whether it was a serious issue when the player went down (certainly not in the heat of the moment).  From the third base vantage point, he could have just as easily popped up, grabbed the ball and thrown him out.  No controversy here. 

 

Except soccer, where teams and players, along with the fans, will encourage that the ball get kicked out of bounds, stopping play.   There are exceptions, but it does generally hold true in soccer.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

9 minutes ago, Old Twins Cap said:

Except soccer, where teams and players, along with the fans, will encourage that the ball get kicked out of bounds, stopping play.   There are exceptions, but it does generally hold true in soccer.

That is true.  Considering how much flopping goes on in that sport, it's hard to believe though!

[Riverbrian]

Play to the Whistle.

That goes to both Max Kepler and Ty France. 

[Old fox]

Dam if you do, dam if you don’t! There are valid reasons for both sides of this predicament. However, time was not called so the game was still was active. I stand behind Max as the game rules were still active. I think this is a form of trying to shame Max . 

 

[USAFChief]

57 minutes ago, BK432 said:

I feel like most people here have reading comprehension issues sometimes LOL.

Matthew, I love the article. We should want society and the world to be a better place, and put the health concern in the moment ahead of a run or a win. As you allude to, it's not going to happen tomorrow, or next month, or next year. But we can and should aspire to be that world.

I would run home if I were Kepler. But I'd feel just as crappy about it as he does. Imagine a world where we could stay put and everyone would support and understand that decision.

I don't think it's a reading comprehension issue.

I think it's a "contorting oneself into somehow laughably imagining this is in any possible way related to making the world a better place" issue.

[Aggies7]

I remember seeing a guy take second base after hitting a line drive off a pitcher’s noggin after the ball went flying towards the dugout. I thought that was a little bush. I’ve seen other sports stop play if an injured player is near the action and at risk of getting stomped on or further injured. Kepler would have absolutely stayed put if the guy wasn’t acting like he’d just been hit by a sniper (let’s hope he’s ok).

As Tony soprano would say, it’s a very delicate situation

[ashbury]

45 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

That is true.  Considering how much flopping goes on in that sport, it's hard to believe though!

Soccer has a very different view of sportsmanship than the sports I usually follow, and I have to tip my cap to what seems to be a consistent mindset even if I don't share it.  The Offside rule, for example, seems to have as a spirit of "fair play" that simply being the fastest sprinter on the field pitch doesn't entitle you to what they view as cheap goals.  The wide receiver beating the cornerback to the endzone to receive a pass simply doesn't exist in soccer.

While I don't know every nuance of that sport, I would be surprised if the last defender gets beaten when challenging a player who has the ball on a breakaway to the goal, and goes down in a heap in what seemed to be a clean play, gets the same out-of-bounds courtesy as when the offense magically breaks free in a contested scrimmage as one player goes down.  To do so would open up the kinds of abuse that soccer rules seem designed to prevent.

As for Kepler's scoring play: the first baseman lost his focus and took too long to notice something was wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong in baseball to try to score.

[EGFTShaw]

An unwritten rule that was never unwritten in the first place?

Plenty of examples why Kepler should have done what he did, when he did it, because it is what should be done.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

This is satire, right?

 

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

If the SS trips trying to field our ground ball, stop running to 1st until we learn if the SS hurt himself.

In fact, the Seattle hitter who should have been out when Jeffers couldn't find the foul popup should declare himself out. I mean, fair play is fair play.

No, but that was. 😀

[Joe A. Preusser]

12 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I don't think it's a reading comprehension issue.

I think it's a "contorting oneself into somehow laughably imagining this is in any possible way related to making the world a better place" issue.

This and a few others' takes seem a bit harsh. 

I appreciate the thought process in the article Mathew.  It's one that many in our world would benefit from incorporating into our daily lives much more often.  

That being said, this is a team athletic contest, not life, and not a blueprint for life.  I'm ok with understanding that the most important thing going on in that moment was the unfortunate injury, AND that also you keep participating in the contest.  As someone else said, play to the whistle.  I thought Keplers take was great.  

On the other hand, I admit I have admired times when the human element has risen above the contest element -  A marathon runner collapsing, and the 2nd place person picking them up and carrying them across the finish line.  A hockey game agreed to a draw after 2 periods when a national crisis is occurring. I could go on.

But last night was a simple run of the mill event occurring in the framework of a game.  I'm glad Kep ran.  

[chinmusic]

35 minutes ago, Old fox said:

I think this is a form of trying to shame Max . 

And it wouldn't be the first time. (I'm referring to an article written a  few years ago where another  TD writer seemed to single out Kepler). I really don't get it.

[Hans Birkeland]

If the person's health matters more than the game (which it does), then shouldn't it not matter if a run is scored or not? If Kepler is standing there saying he is Sparticus, I don't think that necessarily makes him more or less compassionate. It could, but if he doesn't score because he wants to score points on social media or something, that's more of a moral failing than if he scores and actually felt bad about it. I'll reserve judgment until I see brain scans.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Austin Martin legged out an infield single. In the process, he slid headfirst, trying to avoid both a potential tag and a potential collision with Mariners pitcher Taylor Saucedo, but (in one of those cruel twists that fate sometimes dispenses, on diamonds and elsewhere) he ended up causing an injury, instead. Martin slid into Saucedo, who badly injured his knee and crumpled to the ground.

...

It's not Martin's fault that Saucedo got hurt

Slightly contradictory messages in two different parts of the article.  I go with the latter.

Regardless, as to the spirit of the article itself, I do applaud your writing it, as I think the idea crossed many people's minds immediately after the play had finished.  Mind you, I dismissed the idea almost immediately thereafter.  But the idea is not so far from the realm of reality that I'm embarrassed to have wondered.

It was worth thinking through.

/ edit - ninja'd a bit by Joe A. Preusser, while I was wordsmithing.

[twinswest]

Max was 100'+ away from the situation, in a mindset of being aggressive and looking for a way to score.  The responsibility is not on the opponent to stop, it is on Ty France to be alert to the situation and cover for his teammate or the umpire to call timeout if the ball is secure which it was not at the time.