It’s something we saw quite a lot last year. The Diamondbacks at bat, with a runner on third and one out. But the hitter was unable to get the man home, either striking out or not being able to deliver a sacrifice fly/RBI ground-out. Cue weeping, wailing and the gnashing of teeth in the Gameday Thread. But here’s the dirty little secret. While of course it “matters” at that moment - scoring the run is better than not scoring it - the reality is that there is little or no correlation between the teams that are good at making productive outs and overall success.
The Unimportance of “Productive Outs”
