This baserunning concept might be the most misunderstood element in major league baseball by the common fan. Most fans see a runner get tagged out on the bases and they chalk it up to bad baserunning. On the contrary. They are actually taught to get in a rundown and give themselves up for dead so a run can score. It can happen in many situations.
The most common occurence of the play is with a runner on 2nd and 2 outs. In this scenario, a sharply hit ball to the outfield has a chance of the runner being thrown out at the plate. Most good 3rd base coaches send the runner with two outs because they understand that consecutive hits don't happen often. As the batter-runner rounds 1st base and notices there could be a close play at home plate he races towards second base. He doesn't watch the arc of the throw. He simply runs hoping that the cutoff man goes after him rather than the runner racing home. Three results could happen.
1) The ball is not cutoff and the runner is out. It doesn't really matter where the batter ends up in this situation.
2) The ball is not cutoff and the runner is safe. You are now in scoring position with two outs.
3) The ball is cutoff. We score a run in this scenario. Quite honestly, it doesn't matter if they throw you out or not. We got what we wanted. A run.
In any evening of watching major league baseball you will see this occur on average once a night. And, you'll see an average fan criticize their baserunning once a night.
They are doing this intentionally because it is sound fundamental baseball.
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