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As Tim McCarver Once Said, "Baseball Is A Game Of Inch"

Sam Miller, ESPN:

Here's one way it could have gone differently: Eduardo Nunez was playing 115 feet from home plate. The average third baseman this year, with two strikes on Gleyber Torres, played 117 feet deep.

What if Eduardo Nunez was playing 117 feet from home plate? What if he'd been playing even 116 feet away, as he had on the 1-1 pitch to Torres (but not the 0-0, 0-1 or 1-2 pitches)? The play at first would have been close. Nunez, if he didn't barehand it, if he didn't eat it, if he didn't grip it poorly and throw it down the right-field line, most likely would have made a throw to first that Torres would have narrowly beaten out.