During the National League Championship Series, we -- well, and the Los Angeles Dodgers -- highlighted how Chicago Cubs southpaw Jon Lester refuses to throw to first base. It didn't take long into the World Series for the Cleveland Indians to test and validate that observation as a fact.
Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor stole a (taco-winning) base the first time he reached against Lester, staking out a solid -- but not egregious -- lead in the process:
Yet it was the second time Lindor reached against Lester that things went batty. Lindor again staked out a similar lead, but this go-around he took off before Lester began his delivery. Lester stepped off and would've had Lindor picked off ... except, again, he refuses to attempt a throw to first base. Take a look:
Lindor eventually tried stealing second base later in the sequence, and was thrown out -- although it was a bang-bang play, and even slow-motion replays didn't make it clear whether he'd been tagged. The most interesting part of Lindor's strategy against Lester? He refused to take extremely long leads:
Lindor was 25 feet off 1st when P threw. MLB avg for 2B SB: 23.1. Why wasn't he off further, having literally just seen Lester won't throw?
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) October 26, 2016
We'll see if Lindor (and the Indians) get more aggressive with their leads against Lester -- and, contrariwise, if Lester will find a way to counter.