There were a number of outstanding defensive plays made by the Dodgers in 2014 and as we have come to expect, many of them involved superstar outfielder Yasiel Puig – perhaps none greater than his impossible diving catch against the Mets at Citi Field on May 22, 2014. Puig ran every bit of 40 yards from right field deep into the right field gap to rob Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores of a sure RBI double with his spectacular diving catch.

Puig would go on to make several more outstanding web gem plays during the 2014 season, as would Dodgers utility infielder Miguel Rojas whose great backhanded play at third base saved Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter on June 18.

But without question, the most bizarre defensive play by the Dodgers in 2014 occurred in what would eventually prove to be a rather meaningless game against the San Diego Padres on August 29, 2014 at Petco Park. To fully understand the play, you have to understand the history between the Dodgers and Padres utility outfielder/pinch-hitter Seth Smith.

On March 30, 2014, the third game of the brand new season, Dodgers set-up man Brian Wilson took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning at Petco Park and immediately coughed up a leadoff solo home run to Smith for the first of what would be four blown saves by Wilson in 2014. Wilson faced five batters in the inning retiring only one of them (on a sacrifice bunt) for the eventual 3-1 loss for Wilson and the Dodgers. Smith would go on to hit three additional home runs again the Dodgers in 2014 including two in one game on June 20 off of Dodgers right-hander Dan Haren.

Although Smith hit only .244 (11 for 45) against the Dodgers in 2014, he had an on-base percentage of .370, a slugging percentage of .533 for a lofty .904 OPS with four home runs, a double, five RBIs and 24 total bases. In other words, Seth Smith was a guy who you would always ask yourself “Why is Mattingly even pitching to this guy?”

Okay, back to the August 29 game. In a well fought pitching duel, the two teams entered the bottom of the 10th inning tied 2-2. The Dodgers had already used seven pitchers including Haren, Jamie Wright, Wilson, Pedro Baez, Carlos Frias and Brandon League, leaving only struggling right-hander Kevin Correia (a former Padre) and closer Kenley Jansen available in the Dodgers beleaguered bullpen. Rather than having League go a second inning in relief after retiring the Padres in order on 11 pitches in the ninth inning or bringing in Jansen who hadn’t pitched in two days, Mattingly elected to bring in Correia, who had given up 10 earned runs in his 14 innings pitched since joining the Dodgers three weeks earlier for an unimpressive 6.43 ERA. (Note: Correia would finish the season with a 2-4 record and 8.03 ERA while with the Dodgers. He was not included on the Dodgers playoff roster and became a free agent at the end of the season).

Correia immediately gave up a leadoff single to Padres shortstop Alexi Amarista which was followed by a fly out by pinch-hitter Jake Goebbert. Correia then gave up back-to-back walks to third baseman Yangervis Solarte and center fielder Abraham Almonte bringing up (you guessed it) Seth Smith, who had gone 0 for 4 on the night.

As he often did, Mattingly decided to put on a defensive shift against Smith, but with the bases loaded and only one out and the winning run 90 feet away, it was a defensive shift of the likes I have never seen in my 60+ years as a baseball fan. Mattingly had four guys on the right side of the Dodgers infield. It was absolutely nuts… and it worked! Smith hit a hard grounder to Gordon, who immediately fired home to force Amarista out at the plate. Ellis then fired to first baseman pro tem Andre Ethier but Smith just did beat Ellis’s throw.

The Dodgers had Andre Ethier, Adrian Gonzalez, Dee Gordon and Miguel Rojas between first base and second base with only Justin Turner on the left side of the infield at third base to keep the runner relatively close.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“We have used the five-man infield, but not the four on one side,” said Mattingly after the game. “Seth is a shift guy for us, and really we have the five guys so we put four on one side. We normally have three over there anyway for him.”

Ironically, the Dodgers actually practiced this extreme shift before – no… really.

“We weren’t surprised by the situation or what Donnie asked us to do because we had practiced it,” said catcher A.J. Ellis.

What’s even more ironic is that now, with two outs and the bases still loaded, the Dodgers went back to their normal defense with Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal at the plate. Grandal hit a hard grounder between Adrian Gonzalez and Dee Gordon for a single to give the Padres the 3-2 walk-off win. Had the Dodgers left that extreme shift in place (and, of course, why would they?), either AGon or Dee would have made the play to retire the side.

Regardless of the game’s outcome, the Seth Smith extreme shift was by far one of the most unusual defense alignments that Dodger fans have ever witnessed and the fact that it actually worked made it all the more remarkable.