Javier Baez Became The First Cub To Successfully Steal Home In The Postseason In Over 100 Years

The Chicago Cubs picked their spots stealing bases during the 2016 season, as the NL Central champions attempted 100 steals and were successful 66 times. During Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, the Cubs stole their first base of the postseason when second baseman Javier Baez successfully stole home.

This looks like it happened on accident. Baez was standing on third during the bottom of the second inning against the Dodgers, and with Jon Lester at the plate and setting up to bunt, Baez broke for home. The only issue was Lester didn’t make contact, so Dodgers catcher Carlos Ruiz tried to gun Baez out as he was stuck between third and home.

That ended up being a bad decision, because right as Ruiz threw it, Baez broke for home, mostly because he’d get tagged out if he tried going for third. Los Angeles third baseman Justin Turner tried to fire the ball back to Ruiz, but by the time it got there, Baez had managed to score. He looked relieved after, ostensibly because he knew that he got really, really lucky that he got his team a run and didn’t get called out.

Baez ended up making a little bit of history, as he became the first Cubs player to steal home in the postseason in more than 100 years.

Chicago won its first World Series that year, so if history is any indication, the Cubs should win the World Series in 2016. Because that’s totally how this works, right?

(Via BroBible)

×