Can someone reference something that I can read as to why this is. I've seen the argument made lots of times - but never read anything indepth. It comes down to outs being the most important thing, most specifically not making them. I get that, but, you can't avoide making them - it is impossible - a team is going to make an out roughly 66% of time. You are obviously going to have stretches where a team is going to do much better than that but its going to even out in the end. That's probably the one certainty in baseball - outside the home half of the 9th and beyond you are going to make 3 outs. In my head - which is why I am looking for some reading material - what you do with the "non-outs" is more important than simply making one or not making one. Well, you're wrong. Getting as many people to the plate as you can without making outs is what's most important.