Last night the Milwaukee Brewers tied the MLB record for the most lopsided shutout in modern history with a 22-0 rout of the Seattle Mariners. Once upon a time and not so long ago, the Brewers would have been shamed for “running up the score” because a very old unwritten rule of the game held that doing so was unethical: unprofessional, cruel, pointless, sadistic, and a Golden Rule breach. When the Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 30–3 on August 22, 2007, the most one-sided wipe-out in professional baseball since the 19th century, the Rangers were widely condemned for inflicting such a humiliation on another team and its fans. I think, with the Brewers win yesterday, we can officially pronounce the silly unwritten rule repealed. It never was ethical. Good riddance.
The unwritten rule probably dates back before professional baseball. Running up the score in Little League and pick-up games is cruel, pointless and, yes, a Golden Rule breach, but carrying it into games where spectators pay money and the players are compensated for their performance never made sense. It is a violation of integrity for professional athletes not to exert maximum effort. The score won’t stop, or shouldn’t stop, a player from making a spectacular fielding play, or hitting the ball into orbit. Real baseball fans love the game, not just a team. For a winning team to stop trying to score runs is unethical. Fans are being cheated.
A game with so many runs scored is long? Hey, nobody’s forcing a spectator to stay. If I pay to see a game, I pay to see the whole game. Moreover, one of baseball’s inimitable charms is that weird and wonderful things happen that have never happened before all the time, even though there have been roughly 243,700 baseball games played over the entire history of the sport since 1876. Just this week, a rookie hit three home runs in his first three trips to the plate in his first game ever, something that is unprecedented.
Ethics Alarms 
Watched, and enjoyed, every minute of the 22 runs off 22 hits.
FWIW: It 1-0 ’til the bottom of the 5th, when the Mariners just collapsed.
Reserve catcher Gary Sánchez pitched a scoreless 9th inning, throwing 55 + mph heaters for the last out…
FUN FACT: The Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970 and became the Brewers.
PWS
Yeah, it seems like I’ve been on the short side of games like that more often than not recently. It’s interesting in a way. You’re rooting for your team to start a comeback, but then it gradually sinks in that this is going to be one of those days you’d rather forget. Doesn’t keep me from listening, but I may not have my utmost attention on the game if we’re down 12-0.
I’m with Jack, though, if we’re going to have the ABS challenge system, I don’t think it should be turned off just because a position player is pitching. On the other hand, if the score is 15-1, maybe the challenges aren’t quite as critical to the team — but on the gripping hand, individual players may still really need them.
The Brewers got swept by the Padres last week, with a 11-2 drubbing on the 11th.
PWS
The Rangers broadcasters still occasionally reference that 30-3 game. I will say that, if something like that happened tonight, absolutely no one would be pulling any punches — the Rangers have been in such an offensive funk that it would be welcomed.
Games like that are freaks — similar to 60-0 games in the NFL. It just happens that everyone clicks all together, and a team strings together hit after hit. More frequent are the games where a team scores 10-15 runs and those are also the type of game where the other team does occasionally come back from a large deficit. Probably at least once or twice a year a team will come back from being down 8-10 runs.
I listened to that game on the radio, because I was on a long drive for some reason. That poor Orioles team was terrible.
From the MLB network guys: “Went to a Brewers/Mariners game last night, and a Packers/Seahawks game broke out.”
Heh! Coupla weeks ago when Le Miz was fireballin’ 102,103 & 104 mph pitches one after another, the announcer quipped:
“It might sound like we’re calling out FM radio station numbers.”
PWS
I’ve got the vapors – it is sooooo sexy when you all talk baseball.
<cueing up my best Jack Palance voice…>
I’m wearing batting gloves as I type.
Long-time Iowa Hawkeyes football coach Hayden Fry was criticized more than once for running up the score on his opponents. If his team was up 49-7 with three minutes left in the game and they had an opportunity to score, they did.
Hayden’s response (a summation): I expect all my players – offense, defense, special teams – to give 100% effort for 60 minutes. If that means the Hawks score 80 points and the other team can’t score at all, then so be it. If I put the second-string players in late in the game and they have a chance to score, which of you is going to deny them that? I want 100% effort for 60 minutes.
As an Iowa State alum, I can’t be a true fan of the Hawkeyes, but I appreciated Fry’s take on it. Every player should do his/her best all the time, and let the score take care of itself. Win in a 4-3 squeaker in extra innings?…it’s a win. 22-0?…it’s a win. The actual scores won’t be remembered by anyone a month from now, and will only resurface at some point in a trivia game, or when there’s a bigger blowout years down the road.
Acknowledging “When The Legend Becomes Fact, Print The Legend,” an (alleged) Ohio State coach Woody Hayes response to why he went for a two (2) point conversion late in a 1968 OSU 50-14 drubbing of arch rival Michigan:
“Because I Couldn’t go For 3.”
PWS
Hah! I had not heard that before. Great story!