2017 World Series Game 5
Derek Fisher of the Astros slides into home plate as Austin Barnes awaits the throw from Left Fielder Andre Ethier.
In perhaps the greatest World Series Game of all time, a simple managing mistake by the Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts could’ve cost the boys in blue the game. A soft hit line drive to the Dodgers left fielder Andre Ethier by Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and future MVP candidate scored the game winning run. As a baseball and Dodger fan, I was fascinated with the way that this game was progressing. After a moment of pure disappointment and shock, I asked myself “Why didn’t Dave Roberts move Yasiel Puig from right field to left field?” Yasiel Puig will be remembered as a firecracker of a player with a cannon of an arm with no fear in his head. So, with a World Series advantage game on the line and a predominantly pull hitter at the plate, why was the best arm and defensive player that season in the outfield for the Dodgers not where most of Bregman’s balls are hit?
Let’s start with Yasiel Puig. Coming off a 2017 regular season where he ranked 2nd in the National League with a .996 fielding percentage, he was the best defender out of the 3 in the game at the time (Andre Ethier in LF; Joc Pederson in CF). In what was Ethier’s second to last game in his career, he was not in a position to save the game and punchout Derek Fisher. Only playing 8 games that season, he had a fielding percentage of 0.875 with 1 error. After just a quick comparison of Puig and Ethier, statistically Puig is a better defender even with a much larger sample size (137 games). So, why stick with the veteran?
Well, Andre Ethier has the 12th highest fielding percentage in MLB history for qualified right fielders. I genuinely had no idea. However, this brings up the question, “Do you stick with the historically better defensive player with low risk but low reward, or do you go with the player that has been the best that season and gives your team the highest possibility of achieving an outfield assist?”. Baseball is an interesting sport. It is the sport that hates and begs for no change. Change is inevitable. How do you take a historically great outfielder and give an opportunity to a player who is known to not make the smartest decisions? Well, that’s modern baseball.
In modern baseball, the players on their respective teams aren’t “players” anymore. Every action that the players are told to make is based off sabermetrics. This beautiful game has transitioned from the manager making decisions in regard to player performance to a game where numbers are the puppet master.
Do I believe in this outrages claim? Yes. As much as I love riding the hot hand and trusting my gut, a World Series swing game was not the situation nor will it be for most games of this importance.
First of all, Ethier was not on roll in the postseason. In fact, he was quite terrible. Second, statistics prove that Puig was the guy to be playing left field. Having played 7 games in LF in his career, he had the experience to play in this massive situation.
If the switch was made, and Yasiel Puig moved from RF to LF, could the Dodgers have potentially won the 2017 World Series? We'll never know, but it sure is fun to think about.