Baseball Defensive Dance: How Dodgers and Red Sox Use Offset

At each round, Justin Turner moves to third base to play the post for the Dodgers. At one point in the round, according to the batter, Turner could move to his left about 20 meters (80 feet) to get behind the second goal. Or he can go even further and get where the second baseman usually plays. Who knows where he will come next?

Turner's dance is not new to baseball. Major League teams have been moving more and more players around the field for much of the decade. And the trend continues to skyrocket.

This season, teams have played against players in a different position than traditional players. 34,673 times – more than 6,500 times above the previous record set in 2016. And this number only counts the gear changes when a ball is put into play – and not the gear changes used when a -batte ends in walk or in withdrawal.

But teams are using the shift in different ways, as have shown the Dodgers and Red Sox during the playoffs. Both teams use a treasure trove of data to decide where to place their defenders, but Los Angeles has recorded nearly double. post season teams as in Boston when the ball is put into play.

In Game 1 of the World Series, for example, Los Angeles had three infielders on the same side of the second base 15 times, the Red Sox only 5 times.

Turner was by far the most frequented field player in this game. Left handed Jackie Bradley Jr., below, Turner has arrived everywhere – Bradley plays four different roles on the plate.

The second goal of the Dodgers – Brian Dozier and later Enrique Hernández – did not travel the miles traveled by Turner, but they were still busy. They played in the more traditional position only 10 times, about a quarter of the Red Sox hitters. They played five times at the short stop of the second goal and moved to play more center 22 times.

This picture shows the first hitter in the Red Sox game, Mookie Betts, with Dozier stopping short of second.

With Boston starting six right-handed hitters, the Dodgers Manny Machado played in the traditional position of short stops much more often, about two-thirds of the time. But he settled five times on the side of the second goal.

On four occasions, while he was the only player on the field at the second stop (thanks to the wandering Turner), he played in the grass, once against the southpaw Andrew Benintendi and twice against the southpaw Bradley.

The shift paid off very early for the match 1 Dodgers. The picture above is at the second run with first and third base runners and one on the outside for the Red Sox . Bradley shot a powerful shot in the middle that would seem to extend Boston's lead. But Machado did it play to perfection, putting the ball down, ranking second and shooting in first place for a double play ending in the inning.

Besides the double game of Machado, just how many times have these changes led to outs?

The Dodgers have used a lot more playoff changes than the Red Sox and have accumulated more outs due to them. But if you take into account the batting average of your opponents on the ground balls and the small lines – the games that the teams are designed to defend – the Red Sox got a little better.

Even though the defensive changes helped the Dodgers, they were also victims. Manny Machado and Todd Bellinger each lost three hits in the process, more than any other hitter in the playoffs.

Boston teams were much more docile One of the reasons is that the Dodgers started a formation composed of all the right-handed batters against left-handed Chris Sale – a first for any World Series team.

Thus, for the first 22 Dodger hitters, the Red Sox generally played the same way in home defense, with second baseman Ian Kinsler well in the shadows to second base. Kinsler did not play at any time during the first match.

After Sale came out of the game and the Dodgers started hitting some of their left-handed hitters, Boston's change has become a little more interesting.

The shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who was playing in a more traditional position for all those Dodger right-wingers, has now played in the middle or on the other side of the second goal against the southpaw.

All the Dodgers' extra effort has not yet paid off in the World Series, with the Red Sox winning the first two games. Nevertheless, the Dodgers are likely to continue moving their shields as long as the batters insist on shooting the ball, anyway. And because of that, Turner will continue to have a position in the box and many on the field.