Double Play

In baseball, a double play (denoted on statistics sheets by DP) for a team or a fielder is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. In baseball slang, making a double play is referred to as "turning two".

Double plays are also known as "the pitcher's best friend" because they disrupt offense more than any other play, except for the rare triple play. Pitchers often select pitches that make a double play more likely (typically a pitch easily hit as a ground ball to a middle infielder) and teams on defense alter infield positions to make a ground ball more likely to be turned into a double play. Because a double play ends an inning in a one-out situation, it often makes the scoring of a run impossible in that inning. In a no-out situation with runners at first base and third base, the double play may be so desirable that the defensive team allows a runner to score from third base so that two outs are made and further scoring by the batting team is more difficult.