This all started (as many great debates do) in the comments section. After the Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics by an 8-7 score on Sunday, I wrote this: “After two outings in which he looked like he had completely lost all control of his fastball, Jose Leclerc was back to his old self in the ninth. He worked around a Robbie Grossman single to strike out the side and earn his third save of the year.”
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To which I received this comment:
Um, excuse me, Jon B. I am a very serious baseball writer with many dozens of articles in my vast portfolio. I have solved half-decade-old mysteries and uncovered the highly-guarded secret that Adrián Beltré prefers Tupperware over Drake. It’s pretty hard-hitting investigative baseball stuff, so yeah: I think I know what it means to strike out the side.
I sent a message to The Athletic’s MLB Slack channel, just to make sure (I am confident, but I am not cavalier). Our MLB Managing Editor Emma Span assured me that I was correct. I double-checked on Google to see where on earth Jon B. would even get such a cockamamie idea.
Little did I know: Jon B. is not alone. In fact, the more research I did, the more I discovered that this controversy is one of the debates that threatens to rip apart the very fabric of the game: does it still count as striking out the side if a batter reaches?
I had to find out.
It is Monday afternoon, and I have just arrived in the press box. I set down my bag with a thump and turn to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. T.R. has covered the Rangers for thirty years. He has endured the Arlington Stadium press box, a world in which stories were filed on typewriters, and for the last three-plus seasons, he has had the poor fortune to be the writer seated closest to me in the press box. I consider him a mentor, and I have learned a great deal about the job from him. I explain the premise of the question, then ask: did Leclerc strike out the side? He answers with a succinct one-word betrayal: “No.”
I am aghast. I try to explain why I believe it still counted. All three outs came on strikeouts, so the side was retired on strikeouts. The pitcher struck out the side… right? Sullivan listens and shrugs. “Okay, you win.”
N- …No?! You can’t just take Jon B.’s side and then expect me to accept a shrugging reversal as a satisfactory victory. These sorts of things must first be taken to absurd lengths and overanalyzed. I start asking around. TV play-by-play announcer Dave Raymond agrees with me. Dallas Morning News beat writer Evan Grant does not. The tally is pretty even among the gathered media, so I go back in for the last couple of minutes of clubhouse availability and ask some players.
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I approach Drew Smyly first, and as I am explaining the premise, Shelby Miller pipes in from a few lockers down. “It counts,” he says, nodding. “I can see it both ways,” Smyly says. “I used to think it had to be three in a row, but … I think it counts.”
Eat my pedantic dirt, Sullivan.
“It has to be three in a row,” Rougned Odor answers. “Yeah, otherwise, you could give up like four runs and still strike out the side,” Joey Gallo adds. Gallo is back in the lineup after being sent home the night before. He had an inner-ear infection that caused him to have a 103° fever. There is no reason to mention this medical note in this story beyond the fact that it’s news. It’s certainly not a passive-aggressive way to question his judgment. I am a very serious journalist and that would be irresponsible.
It’s not until we get to the manager’s office that the debate really kicks into full gear.
Chris Woodward listens to the question, then looks around the room to see if I’m joking. “…yeah?” he says in the sort of voice that seems to imply that the answer is too simple; perhaps he didn’t understand the question. “You are correct,” pipes in Raymond from the back. “You win.”
“I don’t know there was a debate about this,” the manager says. Neither did I, Chris. Neither did I.
“Some of us think striking out the side means 1-2-3,” Sullivan adds flatly, trying to flip Woodward to his side.
“That’s striking out the side in order,” mutters 105.3 FM’s Jared Sandler, who has laryngitis but still could have delivered the line with a little more conviction, in my opinion.
“Every out that was recorded …was a strikeout,” Woodward says.
The room pauses for a beat, then about six different people start talking at the same time.
“But what does the side mean?” asks Hall of Fame radio play-by-play announcer Eric Nadel. Nadel used to think it counted, but late last season, after doing some reading (and being convinced by none other than Tim Kurkjian), he switched sides this year. He now considers a pitcher as having “struck out the side” only in a 1-2-3 inning. “‘The side’ refers to the opposing team in that inning,” Nadel continues. “He didn’t strike them all out. That’s what the side means!”
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“But if you complete an inning, you’ve retired the side,” Raymond counters. “Whether they got a hit or a walk doesn’t matter, you retired the side!”
“But there’s a difference in retiring the side…” Grant begins, then pauses…
“All that means is that you got the third out, you retired the side,” Nadel reiterates.
“Striking out the side implies the same thing, right?” Raymond continues. I sit back and make Mr. Burns fingers at the chaos I have wrought. “Yeah, if you say you retired the side, it doesn’t matter if you got them in order,” Woodward concludes. “Because you can give up three hits in an inning, and you’ve still retired the side.”
“Exactly,” Raymond says, as punctuation.
“No,” Nadel insists, pointing back to his definition of “retired the side” as simply getting the last out of the inning. “Because what you’re saying then is that you could strike out one and say ‘He struck out the side'”
“But how many times do you ever say ‘He retired the side,” says Grant. “In order.” Nadel says. “Without, I mean, it’s a 1-2-3 inning,” Grant finished. “You say ‘He retired the side in order,'” Nadel finishes. If this collection of half-sentences has stopped making sense to you, I apologize. Let me reiterate: everyone was talking at once. It was mayhem.
“So about Joey Gallo…” Jeff Wilson begins. Jeff has heard enough of this crap.
When we get back up to the press box, I send a few texts. General Manager Jon Daniels says it counts, but includes that he’s not convicted about the answer. Assistant GM Josh Boyd falls to the other side of the divide, but it takes a half-dozen or so texts to pin him down. This is America, Josh. It’s 2019. The time for “both sides” has long since been washed into the great death of nuance.
Boyd asks the scouts he’s with. In favor of it counting: Adam Lewkowicz, Todd Walther and Mike Parnell. Opposed: Bobby Crook.
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As much as I would love to call the 11-9 margin a win, send it to press and then accept a new job at ESPN for $5 million per year for my new show “YELL FIGHT,” my inner scientist is not happy with the small sample size and the negligible margin of victory. This is going to require another swim through the clubhouse.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa is the first Ranger I see on Tuesday afternoon, and he agrees that it counts. Hunter Pence agrees, and so does Jeff Mathis. Jesse Chavez does not, and neither does Adrian Sampson. Edinson Vólquez and Asdrubal Cabrera say it doesn’t count, but Vólquez says it’s a good question, which is like a high-five for sports writers.
“It’s tough,” says Rule 5 pick Kyle Dowdy. “If it’s me, I’d say no. It doesn’t count. But if (Jeffrey) Springs does it, I’d say, ‘Yeah, he struck out the side.'”
“He’s been in the league, what… four days?” says Shawn Kelley incredulously. “It counts. All three outs are on strikeouts.”
Dowdy recalls the last road trip, wherein Matt Harvey gave up five runs in the first inning but got all three outs on strikeouts. He agrees that it counts.
“It counts,” confirms Lance Lynn. “You shouldn’t be proud of it, but it counts.”
Kelley is convinced that he could convince at least half of the “No, it doesn’t” side to switch, given a few minutes of conversation. I appreciate his confidence, but recognize that he has not seen the ruthless division that I have seen over the last 24 hours.
Finally, there is one person left to ask. The person who started this whole debate. I ask Jose Leclerc if it counts. Did he strike out the side?
He smiles, thinks about the question, then laughs. “Yeah!”
I smile and write his name on the correct side of the ledger. It is another mystery solved by Very Serious Baseball Writer Levi Weaver. You’re welcome.
(A star means the person had a difficult time deciding, or started their answer by saying they could see both sides. Also I forgot to put a star by Michael Young’s name, so just imagine one there.)(Photo: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports)
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