MLB-Style Gamble In Little League World Series Ends in Disaster For Florida Coach
The Florida Little League coach will think about this ending for a long time.
Little League fans, and the Lake Mary, Florida baseball team are still trying to process what they witnessed Wednesday in the South Regional championship game with a trip to Williamsport on the line.
Trailing 4-0 to the defending Little League World Series champions, and down to its final out, South Carolina rallied in wild fashion to win 5-4. How wild? The Lake Mary coach called for a play that has only happened seven times in Major League Baseball history.
With a 4-1 lead and the bases loaded, manager Jonathan Anderson called for the intentional walk of South Carolina's best hitter.
The walk was issued. The game is now 4-2.
Two outs.
Then this happens.
South Carolina's Brady Westbrooks stamped his name in Little League history when he roped a liner to the wall to clear the bases and a walk-off win to earn a trip to Williamsport.
Entering Wednesday's game, Florida had outscored regional opponents 26-1. This was supposed to be a literal walk in the park after blowing out South Carolina 14-0 on Sunday.
Before you ask why the outfielders weren't on the warning track to prevent a game-winning double, social media beat you to it.
Intentionally walking in a run has happened just seven times in Major League Baseball history
Imagine how Coach Anderson is feeling this morning. Not only did he not order his outfielders back to the warning track on the final play, he also called for a play that coaches rarely attempt.
Here are the seven times an MLB hitter has been intentionally walked with the bases loaded:
- Abner Dalrymple (1881)
- Nap Lajoie (1901)
- Del Bissonette (1928)
- Bill Nicholson (1944)
- Barry Bonds (1998)
- Josh Hamilton (2008)
- Corey Seager (2022)
In 1998, Arizona manager Buck Showalter, winning 8-6 in the bottom of the 8th, called for Bonds to be walked, forcing in a run to make it 8-7. The next hitter, Brent Mayne, popped out to end the inning. The Diamondbacks won 8-7.
Fast-forward to 2008 and Josh Hamilton at the plate for the Texas Rangers and trailing 7-3 with two outs in the 9th.
Rays manager Joe Maddon ordered Hamilton to be walked. Now it's 7-4.
That brought up Marlon Byrd who struck out swinging.
The gamble worked.
Maddon went to the well again in 2022 as the Angels manager. With the Rangers leading 3-2 in the top of the 4th and one out, Maddon had Seager intentionally walked to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead.
The idea was to prevent the big inning. Bad news: It didn't work. The Rangers would plate two more runs to extend the lead to 6-2.
However, it was Maddon who got the last laugh. The Angels came back and won 9-6.