November 1, 2016 [LINK / comment]
Thanks in large part to Kris Bryant, the Chicago Cubs avoided elimination at home at Wrigley Field on Sunday night, thus sending the World Series back to Cleveland for Game 6. In the second inning, Jose Ramirez put the Indians ahead with a solo homer, one of only four hits Cubs pitcher Jon Lester gave up over six innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Bryant started a three-run rally with a solo homer. Anthony Rizzo then doubled and reached third base on an infield single by Ben Zobrist. They both later scored on, respectively, a single by Addison Russell and a sac fly by David Moss. And that was all they needed. The Indians threatened in the sixth inning, but Lester held them to just one more run. In the seventh inning, Edwards allowed a hit and was then replaced by Aroldis Chapman. To me, that looked like a desperation move by Joe Maddon, but the gamble paid off. Chapman got the last two outs of that inning and then sailed through the last two innings and got a rare multi-inning save. Cubs fans had an enormous collective sigh of relief, satisified that at least the Cubs had won one of their games at home. Cubs 3, Indians 2.
But the task ahead was daunting. Thanks to Mark London for pointing out that not since 1979 has a team come back from a 3-1 World Series deficit to win, with the last two games being on the road. That team, of course, was the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose joyous "We Are Family" spoiled the atmosphere in Baltimore, where the series ended. Can the Cubs do what the Pirates did back then?
Maybe so. In Game 6 tonight, Bryant started a three-run rally with a solo homer tonight -- for the second game in a row! -- except this time it was in the first inning. As of the top of the third inning, it's still Cubs 3, Indians 0.
For a variety of reasons, the 2016 World Series will be remembered for decades to come. One distinguishing feature is how the switch between National and American League rules regarding the designated hitter have affected managerial strategy. In today's Washington Post, Barry Svrluga observed that four players: the Cubs' Kyle Schwarber (not cleared to play defensively), the Indians' relief pitcher Andrew Miller (taken out of the lineup in Chicago in favor of a pinch-hitter), Aroldis Chapman (unaccustomed to lengthy relief outings, and certainly not to batting), and Carlos Santana (not accustomed to playing left field). Ver-r-r-ry interesting sequences of events...
Mike Zurawski informs me that Yankee Stadium II is undergoing some modifications during the off-season, most notably the removal of obstructed-view bleachers in the inner rear corners in center field. ballparkdigest.com and MLB.com.
And so, I made a preliminary (minor) update to the Yankee Stadium diagram, with a "new" diagram showing the original (2009) configuration but leaving the others untouched for the time being.