Each play in the playoffs holds extra weight compared to the regular season. An error can change a game and a loss can doom a series. In close games and series, it is often the team that executes the small plays that comes out on top. A particular play in Game 2 of the NLDS between Washington and Los Angeles stood out in this context: Asdrúbal Cabrera singled to right field, driving in Ryan Zimmerman. However, the throw from the outfield held up Kurt Suzuki at third base and Cabrera was thrown out trying to advance to second base on the throw. Although the Nationals still won the game, the base running error was not inconsequential in the series. Evaluating the Result with WE and RE24 Two statistics - Win Expectancy (WE) and RE24 - can be used to show why trying to advance was a bad decision. Win Expectancy is the probability a team will win given the specific circumstances. Greg Stoll's Win Expectancy Calculator [1] shows how different base running outcomes by Cabrera change Washington's WE in Table 1, below. The Nationals' Win Percentage before Cabrera's single was 82.7%. The highest WE is 93.4% and results when Cabrera gets to second base, however, staying at first only decreases Washington's WE by 0.9%. In comparison, getting thrown out decreases WE by 6.7% compared to staying at first. A 0.9% increase in WE is not worth risking 6.7%, especially in a playoff game where you have the lead. RE24 captures the change in Run Expectancy (RE) while considering runs scored during the play. RE is the same concept as WE except focusing on the probability of a run being scored instead of a team winning the game. The equation for RE24 is: Using Fangraphs' RE24 matrix the change in run expectancy can be evaluated. Results are shown in Table 2. RE24 also shows how risky Cabrera' base running was. Making it to second increases his RE24 by 0.212, but getting thrown out decreases it by 0.727. Staying at first would have given the National's a good opportunity to score more runs and pad their lead in a big road playoff game.
Burning Scherzer in Relief It is easy to dismiss this base running error because the Nationals won the game and were never really at risk of losing after. In fact, their WE never dropped below 80% for the rest of the game. But the difference in a close win and a blowout win can be huge later in the series. Dave Martinez used ace Max Scherzer (2.45 FIP) in relief in the bottom of the 8th inning to shutdown the Dodgers. This puts his projected start Sunday in question and could cause Anibal Sanchez (4.44 FIP) to start in Scherzer's place. A bump Sunday means everyone gets pushed back and either Patrick Corbin (3.49 FIP) or Stephen Strasburg (3.25 FIP) only makes one appearance in the series. If Cabrera stays at first, Washington has a better chance to score more runs in the 8th inning. If they do, maybe Martinez skips Scherzer in relief and the three man rotation remains intact for Games 3-5. There is no way to know the direct effect of Cabrera's base running error, but in the playoffs execution of baseball fundamentals become all the more important. Washington will need to avoid more mistakes like these if they want to knockoff the NL favorite Dodgers. Sources [1] Greg Stoll's Win Expectancy Calculator - https://gregstoll.com/~gregstoll/baseball/stats.html#V.-2.8.1.7.0.0 [2] Adjusting RE24 for baserunning - https://tht.fangraphs.com/adjusting-re24-for-baserunning/ [3] RE24 - https://library.fangraphs.com/misc/re24/
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