Was Tony La Russa's intentional walk of Trea Turner the worst in MLB history? A ranking

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You thought that the intentional walk had gone the way of the iPod and the Phiten necklace.

You were mistaken. The intentional walk is still a part of the game thanks to Joe Maddon and Tony La Russa. Outside of the epic Tommy Pham - Joc Pederson fantasy football dispute, which of course reigns as the kookiest non-baseball baseball thing since the Yankees pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson switched wives in the 1970s, it's hard to find a better non- baseball

The Dodgers' Max Muncy hit a three-run home run after La Russa intentionally walked Turner with a runner on second base. The best part of the entire episode was not that the two-strike intentional walk blew up in La Russa's face; it was the microphone that caught one fan yelling "He's got two strikes, Tony!" and "Tony, what are you doing?" before Muncy homers

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The best part was the confused look on Freddie's face as he stood at second base and said to Danny Mendick, "I don't think I've ever seen that before", which Mendick turned away from him and smiled. As Muncy rounded third base, he stared into the White Sox bench. Muncy uttered language that could not be repeated here as he crossed home plate. Muncy said, "I wanted to make them pay, let's just leave it at that." After the game, La Russa asked, incredulously, "Is there some question whether that was a good move or not?".

Tony, there was a lot of disbelief, not just from the fan who seemed to know what was going to happen, but also from everyone else. There is a sample from a social media site.

The pounding on La Russa is a bit unfair. It looks like a good move if Muncy doesn't hit the ball. It is not like La Russa decided to walk Turner in the middle of the at-bat. We're talking about the flip of the coin because Ben calculates that the White Sox had a 21.9% chance of winning if they walked Turner and threw him a ball.

The intentional walk has largely disappeared from the game, so when it goes badly, it stands out. Studies show that an attempt to prevent one run, such as with Turner singling home, is usually a bad decision. It's not a good idea to give the team a free baserunner if the batter is weak.

The influence of sabermetric thinking can be seen in the decline of intentional walks through the years.

1967: 0.40 per game (peak intentional walk) 1989: 0.34 per game (hadn't dropped much) 1998: 0.22 per game (starting to drop) 2002: 0.30 per game (the Barry Bonds spike) 2012: 0.22 per game (dropping again) 2019: 0.16 per game (A.J. Hinch issued zero all season) 2020: 0.11 per game (no pitchers hitting in the NL) 2021: 0.14 per game (lowest other than 2020)

2022: 0.09 per game (back to the universal DH)

There have been many more intentional walks than this one. La Russa's intentional walk isn't the strangest walk of the season, it's Maddon's intentional walk of Seager that is. Let's take a look at the types of intentional walks from the worst to the best.

This is the first thing. The bases are loaded.

Obviously, just giving the team another run is silly -- and particularly so when the batter is Seager -- while a very good batter, not to be confused with Babe Ruth or Ted Williams or Bonds (we'll get to him in a second). That's why the only known bases-loaded intentional walks are to Seager, Josh Hamilton (also by Maddon!), Bonds, Bill Nicholson and Mel Ott. That's five. And the Ott one doesn't really count. It was the next-to-last game of the season and Chuck Klein of the Phillies and Ott of the Giants were battling for the home run lead (Klein led by one). With the Giants way ahead late in the game, the Phillies intentionally walked Ott.

The Rangers were up by two when Seager hit with one out and the bases loaded. Maddon made the score 4-2 by walking him. It didn't work out. The Angels had a sacrifice fly and a balk that allowed two more runs to score in the sixth. Maddon's explanation that he was trying to stay out of a big blow and to stir the group up was laughable.

The intentional walk to Bonds in 1998 was more defensible. The most amazing baseball stat of all time is the 120 intentional walks that Bonds walked in 2004, when managers freaked out and started walking him all the time. Bonds was the leader in intentional walks every season from 1992 through '98, and he was still feared by then.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, the Giants came back to win this game. Showalter walked Bonds to make it 8-7. Mayne battled the pitcher for eight pitches before hitting the ball. It didn't work very well. Is it a good move? It's doable.

There are two The intentional walk.

It's hard to hit in the majors. It's even harder to hit with two strikes! Trea Turner is a career .303 hitter. He's a .222 hitter with two strikes and a .197 hitter with a 1-2 count. The overall major league average in 2022 with two strikes is .167 and .161 on a 1-2 count.

A two-strike intentional walk is rare. The odds are in the pitcher's favor regardless of the game. Ben mentioned two other two-strike intentional walks.

Seager was walked on a 1-2 count by the Rockies. Chris Taylor's double gave the Dodgers a four-run lead.

The Twins walked Mike Trout on a 1-2 count. It blew up as well. The Angels scored three times in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead, but the lead was short-lived.

It's possible to avoid those two-strike intentional walks.

There are three. The bases are loaded with the game on the line.

I hate, hate, hate when managers do this. Example: Tie game, bottom of the ninth, runners on second and third. The manager walks a batter to load the bases -- either to set up a double play or maybe to simply face a weaker hitter. Trouble is, now the pitcher has to throw strikes, since another walk loses the game. The numbers slightly support my personal beliefs, albeit not strongly: In 2022, batters have hit .256 with runners on second and third and .262 with the bases loaded (although with 62 more points of slugging percentage). In 2021, they hit .267 with runners on second and third and .278 with the bases loaded. Walking somebody to face a much weaker hitter can perhaps make sense here.

Check right away. There have been 13 intentional walks this season with two outs and runners on the field. They did not come in tie games. The team issued a walk leading.

Liam Hendriks of the WhiteSox walked Ji-Man Choi with a 3-2 lead to face Taylor Walls in the 16th. The walls hit the ground.

The Cubs' Ian Happ was walked by the Pirates' David Bednar with a 4-3 lead. As Schwindel strikes out, it works.

Francisco Lindor was walking to face Pete Alonso. Alonso struck out on a 2-2 pitch.

Managers are 3-for- 3 with these ones. We'll see if that holds.

There are four. A walk to a hot hitter.

We mentioned A.J. Hinch. When he was managing the Astros in 2019, they became the first team not to issue an intentional walk all season. Then, in the World Series, Hinch broke his own rule and did issue an intentional walk -- and it didn't work. In a big way.

In the final game of the NLCS, Juan Soto went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double, but he was still 1-for-3 with a double in the World Series. Ryan Pressly was the pitcher for the Astros. Even though Pressly held left-handed hitters to a.165 average that year, Hinch decided to issue his first intentional walk of the season.

Ryan Zimmerman followed with a single, followed by two more from Asdrubal. The game was tied at 2-2. Maybe the Nationals win, but think about how the loss will affect the team. The Nationals had just two reliable relief pitchers in Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson, but they didn't have to use them because the game turned into a runaway. Pressly pitches to Soto.

There are five. The intentional walk to the hitter.

This one doesn't apply any longer, but was always the reason the National League saw more intentional walks than the American League. While popular in the 1960s and into the 2000s, it slowly fell into some disfavor. The reason: The math showed that the advantage gained by facing the pitcher (and hopefully getting him out) was erased by the advantage the other team would receive by having its leadoff hitter lead off the next inning instead of the pitcher (if you got the No. 8 hitter out).

Walter Alston, the manager of the Dodgers, must have realized this late in his career. In 1967, he issued 101 intentional walks, most in the majors. He stopped issuing them in 1974 because they were the most unpopular team in the NL. Bruce Bochy averaged 46 walks per season over the course of his career, but dropped to 26 in his last season. Maddon began his career with the Rays with an average of over 30 intentional walks. He might not have learned his lesson. Nine of those were referred to as "bombs" because they were either the next batter not hitting into a double play or multiple runs scoring.

Only nine of the 154 intentional walks have been given to the No. 8 hitters. The pitchers were still in the game. The No. 8 hitter was issued more intentional walks than any other hitter.

We could keep going, but most of the remaining intentional walk categories are not as offensive. The math doesn't always add up.

There is one last note. The WhiteSox andPhillies are tied for second in the majors with nine intentional walks and La Russa is on the hot seat. New A's manager Mark Kotsay leads the majors with 13 intentional walks. He might be able to keep the walk going.