 There's a call on the third game of the world series on Saturday night that I think is worth taking a closer look at This is of course the obstruction call at third base that came on the final play of the game According to ESPN on Twitter This is actually the first playoff game to end on an obstruction call and obviously coming in the world series It was a very important call Now having read the passage which defines which obstruction is This seems to be about as close to a textable case of obstruction that you will see and I think that in this case The correct call was indeed made Because of copyright reasons, I can't show you the video of the play right now But if you look in the description there are a couple different links to it So if you haven't seen it yet, I would recommend pausing this video watching that one and then coming back So to set up our situation the score is tied at four to four between Boston and St. Louis It's the bottom of the ninth inning and St. Louis's batter John Jay is at the plate Yachty air Molina the catchers on third base Alan Craig is on second base the oh and one pitch was hit to the right side and Second baseman Dustin Pedroia who's playing up on the grass makes a good throw home to Jared Salzol Machia At this point John Jay has reached first base safely on a Fielder's choice Salzol Machia tags out Molina who is coming home from third base for the second out in the inning He immediately throws the ball Down to third base to will middle Brooks because he sees Alan Craig is not yet to third base the throw is wide and Middle Brooks dives in an attempt to catch the ball But he's unsuccessful and the ball rules into left field as Middle Brooks is diving Craig is sliding into third base. They kind of dive and slide at the same moment and Then as Middle Brooks is lying on the ground on his stomach watching the ball go into left field Alan Craig turns to run home, but he trips over Middle Brooks's legs Third base umpire Jim Joyce immediately points at the play when this happens and As we'll see in the rule in a second as soon as Jim Joyce the umpire calls Obstruction the ball is dead and the plays over right there Obviously in the mass confusion the play continued Craig was thrown out at home plate and everyone within a two block radius That had facial hair ran out of the field to argue with the umpires But that is ultimately irrelevant here as soon as obstruction is called the play is dead But let's take a look at the rule to find out the exact definition as the rule of definitions rule number two Defines obstruction as the act of a fielder who while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of Fielding the ball impedes the progress of any runner I can see some people arguing Middle Brooks actually raised his feet off the ground on purpose and an attempt to do just What happens to tangle his legs up with Craig's? Whether this is done on purpose or not is irrelevant There's nothing on intent in the rule all he had to do was Impede the runner's progress and being the Craig fell on all fours I think it's safe to say that his progress was impeded But wait a second let's say who is it to say that middle Brooks was not trying to get up to retrieve the ball and Would that not make him in the act of fielding the ball? Well, the next part of the definition tells us that No, he's not it is entirely up to the judgment of the umpire as to whether the fielder is in the act of fielding Ball says the rule in addition after a fielder has made an attempt to field a ball and missed He can no longer be in the act of fielding the ball And if that wasn't enough for you it goes on even further to include an example Which is that if an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes? Him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner Which is pretty much exactly what happened. He has very likely obstructed the runner So, yes, it was technically a thrown ball rather than a hit ground ball But this is about as close of a play as we're going to get to this example as As we could get as we could have So I think it's safe to say that this player meets the criteria for obstruction, but what does that exactly mean? Well as we jump to our next rule it says that when obstruction occurs the umpire should call or signal obstruction And again if you watch the play the third base umpire does point right at Craig and Middlebrooks as Craig is tripping or right after he tripped If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, which in this case it was The ball is dead and all runners shall advance without liability to be put out to the bases They would have reached in the umpire's judgment if there had not been Obstruction and it further clarifies in the next sentence that the obstructed runner shall be awarded at least one base beyond the base He had last legally touched before obstruction So obviously in this case he touched third base and then was obstructed on his way to home So he is entitled to home plate As far as scoring information goes because Middlebrooks was called for obstruction He is therefore charged with an error on the play and Craig's advancement from third base to home plate is on the e5 umpires are often criticized for blowing calls. However, as we have seen this was not one of them This is about as big of a situation as could have existed Being in the world series and the umpires were not only able to get the call right But the call was made as soon as it happened in perfect accordance with the rules