Does Anyone Play Dice Baseball Today?
As spring arrives and the baseball season begins, young people everywhere are pulling their bats, balls, caps, and gloves out of the closet and heading to the nearest ballfield. There, they will choose up sides, argue over foul balls and close calls at first, and run the bases as if they were playing in the World Series. But what if it rains?
Sure, they could play a video game at home. They could even watch professional games on television or go to the Internet and watch highlights of old games and players. But what if a lightning strike takes out the power? Yes, some might play wiffle ball in the garage or the basement, but those spaces are pretty confining. Fortunately, when all else fails, they can still enjoy baseball indoors without the threat of broken household items. Dice baseball is the perfect, non-electric, indoor game for fans of the national pastime.
If you’ve never played before, go steal the dice from your Monopoly game and start rolling.
As you can see from the illustrations (positions above and combinations below), each of the 21 number combinations has a specific outcome, and many of the outs mirror what you might see in an official scorebook. Infield outs to the pitcher, second, third, and short are 1–3, 4–3, 5–3, and 6–3, respectively, and baserunners advance. Somewhat similarly, fly outs to left, center, and right are 2–5, 2–6, and 4–5, and infield flies to second, third, and short are 1–4, 1–5, and 1–6.
On the positive side, you can also have a bunt single (1–2), a line-drive single (2–4), and a double, a triple, or a home run (4–6, 5–6, and 6–6).
Since the base on balls (1–1), the hit by pitch (2–2), and the sacrifice (5–5) don’t count as plate appearances, the five possibilities for hits in the remaining 18 combinations add up to a robust .278 batting average. (The average last year in all of Major League Baseball was .248.) Since only two combinations result in strikeouts, dice baseball is more typical of the sandlot game than the free-swinging Major League game. Note, too, that the called-looking strikeout (3–3) results in a double play if there’s a runner aboard…
