The Washington Nationals have used the shift more often than ever this year. And it's helped.
Over two years ago, we looked at a pretty limited example of how the Washington Nationals shifted on defense, and what the implications could be for the 2014 season. To summarize the terrifically boring article, here's what I wrote:
Ultimately, I don't think there's a prime takeaway in the sense of, "how much better the team could have been in 2013 if they shifted more" or "how much better they will be in 2014 when they do," but instead my goal was to illustrate how both shifting more and shifting successfully (so to speak) can help.