Or picked off by the catcher, and if it is on ball 4, the batter is now kind of a runner who hasn't made first.
Meh, we duplicated some stranding, so the cycle is kinda moot.
Plausible... (haven't come up with anything better)
This dissatisfying aspect of most interpretations so far is that they aren't runners yet, so how can they be stranded?
Oh right. I knew that. I just didn't believe in stealing bases, so i must have imagined it.
Some might think stranding runners on second and third would be even worse. So maybe i was just saving them a little anguish...