Small-ball strategy pays off: Why Dodgers are embracing sacrifice bunts vs. Mets
It was exactly 36 years ago Tuesday that Kirk Gibson hit his famous walk-off home run off Dennis Eckersley and hobbled around the bases in Dodger Stadium, a 1988 World Series Game 1-winning shot that was so stunning it elicited this famous response from Jack Buck on the national radio broadcast: “I don’t believe … what I just saw!”
If Buck were still alive and in Chavez Ravine on Sunday night, he might have had a similar reaction to a pair of peculiar plays that lacked the drama of a walk-off homer but seemed almost as rare.
Not once, but twice in the first four innings of the National League Championship Series opener against the New York Mets, the Dodgers dropped perfectly placed sacrifice bunts, practically a lost art in today’s game.
Yes, you read that correctly. A Dodgers team that led all of baseball with a .446 slugging percentage, ranked third with 233 home runs and had all of 10 sacrifice bunts in 162 regular-season games — only five teams had less — gave up two outs to advance runners on the basepaths.
Just two days after their series comeback win over the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers dominate in a 9-0 victory over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS.
And guess what? The small-ball strategy worked, as both runners who moved up on bunts by No. 9 hitter Tommy Edman and No. 8 batter Gavin Lux scored in a 9-0 Game 1 victory over the Mets, one on a Shohei Ohtani RBI single in the second inning and one on an Edman RBI single in the fourth.
“It’s just playoff baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The truth of the matter is that the postseason is different than the regular season. It’s about 90 feet and giving yourself … some of that was making sure Shohei had a chance to get up.
“To [Shohei’s] and Tommy’s credit, driving in those runs was huge. And Gavin getting the bunt down, Tommy getting the bunt down, it’s just team baseball. If you can get a guy in scoring position, it just creates a little bit more stress.”
Edman’s bunt, which followed Lux’s leadoff walk in the second inning, was not that surprising. The switch-hitting utility man has six sacrifice bunts in his six-year career and has usually hit toward the bottom of the order for the St. Louis Cardinals and Dodgers. Ohtani followed Edman’s bunt with an RBI single to right field for a 3-0 lead.
“We’re always working on bunts in case the situation arises, and it kind of made sense in those situations today,” Edman said. “Obviously, I wanted to get the guy to second for Shohei, and it worked out. In the playoffs, one play can make a huge difference, so to be able to execute in situations like that was huge.”
The left-handed-hitting Lux’s bunt off left-hander David Peterson, which followed Kiké Hernández’s leadoff single in the fourth, was a bit of a shocker because the second baseman had not dropped one sacrifice bunt in his entire five-year career, a span covering 412 regular-season games and 23 playoff games.
“I’ve been working on it a bit since the season ended, just so in those situations where it might be a tougher lefty or where we need to stay out of a double play, I could get it down,” Lux said. “I did it a lot coming up through the minor leagues, so it’s nothing foreign. Just kind of been working on it, doing whatever it takes to get it down.”
The bunt came with a price. Lux tweaked his right hip flexor coming out of the box and was pulled from the game as a precaution in the seventh inning. He said the injury is not serious.
Edman followed Lux’s bunt with an RBI single to right for a 4-0 lead and scored on Ohtani’s 116.5-mph single off the right-center field wall for a 5-0 lead. Freddie Freeman capped the three-run rally with an RBI single to left for a 6-0 lead.
“I don’t think we sac bunted once or twice all year, but you need to stay out of a double play, especially when you have Shohei coming up behind you,” Lux said. “You want him to have that opportunity with a guy in scoring position, so it’s our job at the bottom to get [the bunt] down and stay out of the double play.”
The Dodgers’ injury-riddled pitching staff is refuting history and their reputation by shutting out playoff opponents for a record-tying 33 innings.
Putting runners on base for Ohtani might be the key to winning the World Series for the Dodgers. The presumptive NL most valuable player and leadoff man is six for eight with runners on base in six playoff games and 0 for 16 with the bases empty. Ohtani is 16 for 19 with runners in scoring position dating to the last week of the regular season.
The Mets wanted no part of Ohtani with two on and one out in the eighth inning Sunday night, walking the slugger on four pitches to load the bases. Mookie Betts followed with a three-run double to left for a 9-0 lead.
“I don’t think there’s a different approach for him with runners on base,” Lux said of Ohtani. “He’s the best player on the planet, so I think he’s just finding hits with guys in scoring position.
“I think, as you saw tonight, when there are guys out there, he’s getting it done, so it’s our job at the bottom of the order to keep finding different ways to get on base, whether it’s bunting, walking, hitting, whatever it is.”
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