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In baseball, a batted ball is considered a sacrifice fly (denoted by SF) if the following four criteria are met:
- There are fewer than two outs.
- The ball is hit to the outfield.
- The batter is out because an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield catches the ball (or would have been out if not for an error).
- A runner who is already on base scores on the play.
A sacrifice fly is not counted as a turn at bat (AB) for the batter and he is also credited with a run batted in (RBI). The purpose of not counting a sacrifice fly as an at bat is to avoid penalizing hitters for a successful tactical maneuver. A sacrifice fly does however hurt a players' on base percentage (OBP). This introduces a subtle change in batting strategies. Normally, a line drive (a ball hit on or slightly above a level trajectory) is seen as more likely to result in a hit than a fly ball. However, with a player on third and fewer than two outs, a hard-hit fly ball is of equal or even higher value, since it is likely to go further and become a sacrifice fly, thus producing a run.
The sacrifice fly is still credited even if another runner is put out for failing to tag up, so long as the run scores prior to the third out. A fly-out double play does not affect the validity of the sacrifice fly.
In the case of a fly ball dropped for an error, the sacrifice fly is only credited if the official scorer believes the run would have scored had the ball been caught.
In most cases, the sacrifice fly results because a runner scores from third base. However, in rare cases, a fast runner may legally tag up and score from second base if the fly ball were hit to a particularly deep part of the field. By rule, this is still credited as a sacrifice fly and an RBI, unless the player only reaches home due to an error.
The major-league record for most sacrifice flies by a team in one game is 5.[1]
The sacrifice fly is one of two instances in baseball where a batter is not charged with a time at bat after putting a ball in play; the other is the sacrifice hit (also known as the 'sacrifice bunt', or simply a 'sacrifice'). Batters have not been charged with a time at-bat for a sacrifice hit since 1893, but baseball has changed the sacrifice fly rule multiple times. The sacrifice fly as a statistical category was instituted in 1908, only to be discontinued in 1931. The rule was again adopted in 1939, only to be eliminated again in 1940, before being adopted for the last time in 1954. This may be because unlike a sacrifice hit, where a batter by definition does not take a full swing, a batter who hits a sacrifice fly does swing away, and therefore arguably does not "give himself up".
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