A fix? Get real. It’s just a book call. I can’t for the life of me figure out how at that point in a world series game they could get that ball to become lodged under the pads so the game could be manipulated.
It’s in the way the rule is written in the book:
A MLB “lodged ball” rule applies when a batted ball gets stuck in an outfield wall’s padding, ivy, or other objects on the field, making it a dead ball. The result is an automatic ground-rule double, with the batter and any runners on base each awarded two bases from their position at the time of the pitch. It stems from the ball being in contract with something not on the playing surface. The bottom and back side of the padding is not part of the surface.
MLB Rule 5.05(a)(7) defines a lodged ball as a fair batted ball that is interrupted from its natural trajectory and stuck in a fence, scoreboard, shrubbery, or vines, making it unplayable.
The rule does not take into the consideration if the ability of retrieving the ball is possible, just that the ball is stuck and is touching an out of play area and they are saying by rule it makes it unplayable whether it can or not be ripped out from under the fence. It’s been in the book for MLB since 1956 and before that dates back to 1845 in the Knickerbocker rules.
wy69
The 1845 Knickerbocker rules...maybe you are exaggerating a tad..?