Passed ball on third strike

[Critical Mass]

Just had this happen in my game and it raised an interesting question.

Strike 3 was called and the ball got past the catcher. The batter immediately ran towards first base, however there was already a runner on first base who did not move. what would have happened if the batter made it to first base? Technically there's now two runners on first base. Could the first baseman have then thrown the ball to the second baseman to get a force out?

[Rain King]

Yes, 2nd base is now a force out.

[WIUPIKE]

I am curious how many outs there were due to the dropped third strike rule with a runner on first. One site mentions the rule reads like this: A dropped third strike only matters when first base is unoccupied OR there are two outs. If there is a runner on first base and less than two outs, then a dropped third strike doesn't matter and the batter is out.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by WIUPIKE

I am curious how many outs there were due to the dropped third strike rule with a runner on first. One site mentions the rule reads like this: A dropped third strike only matters when first base is unoccupied OR there are two outs. If there is a runner on first base and less than two outs, then a dropped third strike doesn't matter and the batter is out.

Yes, that's the correct rule. So if the bases are loaded with 2 outs, if you drop the 3rd strike you can simply touch the plate to create the force out there.

[Critical Mass]

In my case, there were two outs, and the runner on first was just standing there in the basepath looking stupid. Would be interesting to see how the AI would have handled it if the batter was safe.