Could Alex Gordon have tied Game 7 of the World Series? (Video)
Sure, the start of spring training is just days away, but there are still questions that need to be answered about how last season ended.
The San Francisco Giants won Game 7 of the World Series after Madison Bumgarner got Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez to pop out, leaving Alex Gordon, the potential tying run, stranded at third base.
Minutes earlier Gordon had hit a line-drive to left-center field off Bumgarner. Gordon whizzed around the bases as the ball was misplayed by Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco and rolled all the way to the wall. An inside-the-park home run appeared possible but Gordon was held up at third as the ball arrived at the cutoff man, shortstop Brandon Crawford.
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The question has been asked repeatedly by Royals fans ever since. Would the result of Game 7 have been any different had Gordon been sent home?
Well, the fine folks at the Kansas City Star teamed up with the ballplayers from Rockhurst University to try and find out.
In the above video they ran six simulations and each time the runner playing the role of Gordon was thrown out by several steps. Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs came to the same conclusion in his analysis that went up the day after Game 7. Ultimately, Kansas City Star sportswriter Blair Kerkhoff deduced that while it was a blast to put together the experiment, it can’t be used as definitive proof of anything:
“There were so many variables to that play that we didn’t have time or couldn’t introduce in our reenactment. But we had fun doing it … the play will remain one of the great ‘what if’ moments in Kansas City sports history.”
We can only assume the video simulating what would have happened if the Seattle Seahawks had handed the ball off to Marshawn Lynch with the game on the line in Super Bowl XLIX is up next.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
