You are simply wrong. A runner on 2nd with no outs vs a runner on 3rd with 1 out is a 4% increase in a chance to score a single run. The odds with a runner on 1st vs runner on 2nd are similar. So you have to be successful with the bunt over 90% of the time for it to be a valid strategy. It is extremely rare for this to be the case. Bunting in the current game of baseball is a huge mistake unless you have a pitcher up or an elite bunter up. One has to account for the reality of the self-fulfilling prophecy. In playoff baseball, every run matters, so every little tiny thing to get one run or to prevent one run from scoring makes a HUGE difference. Over the course of the regular season that just isn't the case--primarily because one both faces average pitching and one has to put average pitching on the mound FAR more often, so playing for a big inning makes more sense (like putting on the "contact play") A team simply cannot focus so singularly on every little thing during the regular season because they will burn out...and that is part of what makes baseball the greatest game in eternity. To be more specific about bunting and the "self-fulfilling prophecy"--well, the more one de-emphasizes bunting (and other small ball skills), the more they become a poorer strategy, since the players playing in the game will not have been working on those types of skills. Which is fine, in the regular season.... But in playoff baseball, every run matters....