If you were among those who listened to Friday night’s exciting 10-inning 4-3 Dodgers walk-off win over the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on the Dodgers radio network, you heard Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner say that he was surprised when Chicago Cubs manager David Ross elected to intentionally walk .297-hitting Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning with placed runner Trea Turner on second base in a 3-3 ballgame.

You also heard Steiner’s longtime broadcast partner, former Dodgers (and Cubs) outfielder Rick Monday, say that he was surprised that Steiner was surprised by the move, noting that walking Freeman (or whoever it may have been) immediately created a double play and/or force-out-at-any-base situation. In fact, Monday added that Ross would have been a fool had he not intentionally walked Freeman (or whoever it may have been) in a tied ballgame in the bottom of the 10th inning or the bottom of any subsequent extra inning with a placed runner already on second base, as the runner on first base meant absolutely nothing … except, of course, to set up that double play and/or force-out-at-any-base situation.

Although Ross’s decision failed when .253-hitting Dodgers catcher Will Smith lined a single to left field to allow the speedy Turner to score the winning run standing up, it was, in every sense, the right move to have intentionally walked the always-dangerous Freeman (or whoever it may have been).

Needless to say, and despite the criticism and social media scorn that David Ross has taken (or will take), should the exact same circumstances occur in Game-3 or Game-4 of the four-game series (or any other series), he would (probably) do it again in a heartbeat.

…because statistically, it was the right move.

Play Ball!

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