This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Demetrius Bell, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”.
Two days after going 1-for-3 with a walk against the likes of Tanner Anderson and Montana DuRapau at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona, Kyle Schwarber was the center of attention at Progressive Field in Cleveland. This time, Schwarber went 2-for-4 with two RBIs against the decidedly better opposition of Trevor Bauer and Bryan Shaw.
The gulf in quality between the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League and the Cleveland, of the American League, couldn’t be any wider, but Schwarber made the transition in competition seem as if it were as simple as jumping over a creek instead of a gulf.
The first of Schwarber’s two RBIs came in the top of the third, when he took advantage of Bauer’s struggles during what ultimately turned out to be a short outing for the Cleveland righty. In this at-bat, Bauer missed with a couple of four-seamers and then barely missed with a changeup to fall into a 3-0 hole. The next pitch was another four-seamer, but this one was right down the middle of the plate and instead of letting it hit the catcher’s mitt, Schwarber decided to roll it into center field for Chicago’s second run of the evening.
By the time the fifth inning arrived, the Cubs were up by three, and immediately after Ben Zobrist delivered a triple Schwarber was at-bat again. Shaw gave him four straight cutters, and Schwarber rolled the last one right up the middle of the diamond for a base hit that made it 4-0 Cubs. Just as he was the last man called up for this World Series, Schwarber was the last man to cross home plate for the Cubs on the night, and his run made it 5-0 in a game that eventually ended 5-1.
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Lead photo courtesy Ken Blaze—USA Today Sports.