CLEVELAND — The player the Mets earmarked to play second base this season has manned the position for just three innings this postseason.
Javier Baez’s defensive star turn at second has flipped Ben Zobrist into the Cubs’ regular left fielder. Of course, it was as a jack-of-all-trades for his current manager, Joe Maddon, in Tampa that Zobrist established his major league pedigree.
“Yeah, right,” Zobrist joked when asked if this was what he expected — to be the cleanup-hitting left fielder in the playoffs. “But I did know with Joe that I could be the leadoff guy and second baseman and not stay in the same spots, I know that was the potentiality.”
As always the idea has been to get his heady, steady, patient, switch-hitting presence in the daily lineup however necessary.
“He’s just a baseball player,” Cubs catcher David Ross said. “He does everything well and doesn’t get attention or need attention.”
On Tuesday night, while his teammates could not hit Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, he could. He generated a double and two singles in a 6-0 Indians victory, joining Babe Ruth as the only players in history to produce at least three hits in consecutive World Series Game 1s.
He then reached safely three more times — a single, an RBI triple and a walk helping the Cubs to a 5-1 victory Wednesday that evened the World Series at a game apiece. Before he grounded out in his final at-bat of Game 2, Zobrist was hitting a Ruthian .714 in this Fall Classic. It is now down to .625 as he tries to assist another team in ending decades of misery.
Zobrist helped the Royals to their first title in 30 years last season, culminating with a World Series victory over the Mets. Recognizing the value of a switch hitter with patience to replace Daniel Murphy, the Mets actually made the largest offer to Zobrist — believed to be four years at $60 million — to become their second baseman.
But a reunion with Maddon, being closer to his Nashville home and the chance to go after the mother of all championship droughts moved Zobrist to accept a four-year, $56 million deal with the Cubs.
“The challenge of winning a World Series in Chicago was the biggest draw,” Zobrist said.
The 35-year-old did his thing — 52 extra-base hits, a .386 OPS and games played at five positions, mainly second. Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said Zobrist did want “a home base” — to have a regular position. But the blossoming of Baez is obvious to everyone, including Zobrist.
“He does it without complaining,” Ross said. “Before stretching we talk about a player each day, and Ben Zobrist was [Tuesday] and I said, “Professional. Unselfish. In a game of routine, he never complains about change and can do well outside his comfort zone.”