Tie goes to the runner is a popular and technically accurate interpretation of baseball rules. However, umpires generally reject the concept that baseball provides for a tie in this way, and instead rule on the basis that either the player or the ball has reached the base first.[1] [2]
The wording of rule 5.09(a)(10), formerly 6.05(j), of the Official Baseball Rules is that a batter is out when "After a third strike or after he hits a fair ball, he or first base is tagged before he touches first base".[3] The rule only covers the situation where the base (or player) is tagged before the runner touches the base: in this case the runner is out. No other situation is mentioned. Therefore in any other situation, for example a tie, or when the the player is tagged after he touches first base, the runner is safe by default.
In response to a question from a Little League umpire, Major League Baseball umpire Tim McClelland has written that the concept of a tie at a base does not exist, and that a runner either beats the ball or does not.[1] In 2009, umpire Mark Dewdeny, a contributor for Bleacher Report, citing McClelland, also rejected the idea of a tie, and further commented that even if a "physicist couldn't make an argument one way or the other" from watching an instant replay, the runner would still be out.[2]