Cubs vs. Cardinals: The Little Things

Friday game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals may have hinged on a player’s hand position nine innings before the winning run ever scored.

As MLB teams rely increasingly on such macro-events as home runs to decide games, the importance of little things tends to recede deep into the background of discussion regarding why games are won and lost. But if the Chicago Cubs lose the NL Central pennant this season by one game – as they did just last year – one of those micro-events that occurred early in Friday night’s game against the Cardinals in St. Louis will deserve considerably more of a role in determining that outcome than it will receive.

The Cardinals defeated the Cubs 2-1 in 10 innings when Matt Carpenter produced a walk-off base hit that scored Kolton Wong from third base. Carpenter’s one-out hit dropped between outfielder Kyle Schwarber and the foul line as the Cubs employed a rare four-infielder, two-outfielder defense to thwart Carpenter.

A notorious pull hitter, Carpenter took advantage of the defense to drop the game-winning fly just a few feet in fair territory.

Prior to that, opposing pitchers Yu Darvish and Miles Mikolas – each supplemented by relief help – had staged a showdown. Darvish allowed three hits and three walks over six innings, Mikolas gave up six hits and two walks over seven innings.

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Aside from the two early runs, the Cubs managed to move just five runners into scoring position, the Cardinals only two.

The micro-moment, unnoticed by all but the most discerning fans, occurred in the bottom of the first inning, and it probably allowed St. Louis to score the run that prevented a 1-0 Chicago victory in the regulation nine innings. It illustrates the often fine distinctions that separate winning teams – which is to say well-coached ones – from others.

Carpenter led off the Cardinal half of the inning by drawing a base on balls on a 3-2 pitch just low of the strike zone by plate umpire Laz Dias. Following a Darvish wild pitch that advanced Carpenter to second, Paul DeJong, also walked.

Darvish retired Paul Goldschmidt on a fly ball to deep center that allowed Carpenter to take third base, Albert Almora properly returning the ball to second to prevent DeJong from also advancing.

The inning’s fourth hitter, Marcel Ozuna, lifted another fly ball, this one to Jason Heyward in medium right field. As Heyward positioned himself to catch the ball with his momentum moving toward the plate, Carpenter tagged up for what would obviously be a close play.

That’s where the micro-elements of the game took over.

Video of the play illustrates that as Heyward positioned himself to catch the ball, he did so with his glove a foot above his head and his throwing hand down at his side. This position, which is widely used by major league outfielders, required him to raise his throwing arm to the glove after catching the ball, a move that takes about a half-second to three-quarters of a second for a skilled athlete to accomplish.

Had Heyward positioned his throwing hand in the direct vicinity of his glove – in Little League parlance, had he “used two hands” – he would have saved that quarter-second to half-second.

How big a deal is that quarter-second to half-second? Consider that the elapsed time between the ball striking Heyward’s mitt and the time Carpenter touched home plate was – based on those same replays — approximately 3.5 seconds. That means Carpenter navigated the 90 feet between third base and home at a speed of about 25.6 feet per second.

He was safe at home by a matter of two or three feet, a distance that – at the pace Carpenter was running — translates to at most one-eighth of a second.

Put simply, had Heyward positioned his arm in a way that would reduce his  throwing time by that one-eighth of a second, he would have enhanced the chance of Cubs catcher Victor Caratini to tag Carpenter out at home … greatly increasing the prospect of a 1-0 Cubs victory in the regulation nine innings.

The widespread emphasis on macro-events such as home runs routinely distracts from the importance of fundamental execution of small details. The outcome of Friday’s Cubs-Cardinals game – which arguably hinged on the position of a player’s arm nine full innings before the winning run crossed the plate – illustrates why it’s important for teams not to lose sight of the small details in their rush to focus on the grand moments.