I seem to remember a bunch of "bunting sucks" posts on this site. Can we all agree that bunting Andrus in the bottom of the 9th to move the runners over was the right move there?

in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game all you need is one run......no problem with that

bunting is for the birds until the 9th

While I agree with trickydick, let's not over exaggerate how effective that bunt was. Win expectancy only increased by 2.4 percentage points, and the net effect was less than that after they walked Josh to load the bases.

I agree it is the right decision, and I wouldn't limit it just to the 9th. Similar situation in a tie game in the 7th or later, and I still do it. But I thnk we do overuse it.

Bunting Andrus in that situation was absolutely the right call there.

Bunting Andrus with a runner in 2nd, no outs, top of 3rd inning the other night was a stupid move.

Having Ian attempt to bunt in T8 down 0-1 with runners on 1st and 2nd was absolutely the right call. Ian just didn't execute.

Taking the bat out of Elvis' hands early in the game is stupid.

In general, your expectancy of getting 1 run increases a little bit by bunting a guy on 2nd over to 3rd with no outs. With no runner on 2nd, or with 1 out already, you almost always decrease your expectancy of any runs.

Yes, the Rangers probably overuse it, but a lot of teams do, too. This was a situation where the bunt is defensible.

Having the pitcher bunt can be effective too. Let's hope that is a decision that must be made again for the Rangers in 2012. ;)

I seem to remember a bunch of "bunting sucks" posts on this site.

I seem to remember a bunch of "bunting usually sucks" posts on this site. Good call in that situation and I'm glad Elvis was able to execute.

As a general rule bunting, according the data that I remember, slightly increases your chances to score one run while dramatically decreasing your chances of scoring multiple runs. Close and late when one run becomes a bigger deal there's an argument to be made for sac bunting. Early in the game, especially the first inning, bunting is just dead stupid. Putting up crooked numbers makes the latter parts of the game decidedly less stressful.