This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Playoff Loopholes and the Law of the Game
This week the World Series is reminding everyone how creative competitive minds can be. When the pressure is on, players and coaches look not just for skill advantages but for rule advantages. Baseball, like law, evolves by closing loopholes that someone clever exploited first.
The Phantom DH
In the late 1970s, Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver found a gap in the new designated hitter rule. He would name one of his pitchers as the DH in the lineup, even though that pitcher was never going to bat. When the opposing team switched pitchers, Weaver could then insert a stronger hitter into the DH spot to match the new matchup.
It was legal at the time because the rule did not require the named DH to actually appear at the plate. Weaver used the tactic more than twenty times in 1979. The league eventually amended Rule 5.11(a)(2) to close the gap, requiring the listed DH to bat at least once unless the opposing club changes pitchers.
It was pure Weaver: audacious, logical, and impossible to ignore. The tactic forced the league to rewrite the rulebook. Lawyers see this pattern every day. Someone uses a rule as written rather than as intended, and reform follows close behind.
The Shift That Went Too Far
For decades there were no restrictions on where infielders could stand. Analytics departments noticed that certain hitters almost never hit to the opposite field. Teams began shifting three infielders to one side to trap every ground ball. It worked too well. Offence plummeted and games slowed to a crawl.
Major League Baseball stepped in. Since 2023, two infielders must be on each side of second base, and all four must have both feet on the infield dirt when the pitch is delivered.
That rule change is being felt in this year’s World Series. Defences are limited, hitters are freer, and the game looks more balanced. A clever exploit led to a system correction, the same cycle seen in statutory interpretation and regulatory law.
Closing Argument
Whether on the diamond or in the courtroom, the principle is the same. Someone always finds a way to use the rulebook against itself, and the rule makers rush to patch the hole. The result is progress through mischief. If that sounds familiar, it should. Lawyers and baseball managers have been playing the same game for a long time.
See you next Wednesday.
