A deeper dive on Gleyber Torres’ and Juan Soto’s defensive issue that led to Yankees’ Game 1 loss

LOS ANGELES -- In the popular imagination, and certainly in Dodger lore, Game 1 of the 2024 World Series will forever be the Freddie Freeman game, not quite as fabled as Kirk Gibson’s moment but somewhere in that zone.

This was a night that offered multitudes, from Giancarlo Stanton’s latest Mr. October moment to Gerrit Cole’s gutty if shortened gem to Alex Verdugo’s Endy Chavez moment -- an all-time catch quickly diminished by a loss.

But peel back all those layers, and you have two problematic defensive plays from a pair of problematic defenders. If Juan Soto and especially Gleyber Torres had performed during regulation, the 10th inning would never have been necessary, and the Yankees would likely have sealed a win.

In a way, that was emblematic of the general causes that underlie their struggle, Soto’s issue was skill and foot speed, while Torres’ was a lapse of technique and concentration.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, with one out and the game still 0-0, Kiké Hernandez sent a ball to deep right field. Soto ran after it, toward the corner, but could not catch up. Hernandez ended up on third base.

“I think I took the right route,” Soto said. “The ball kept fading, and I didn’t have a chance.”

Said a longtime outfield coach who was watching the game: “His route was okay. He was just short of making the catch due to his foot speed. If he played it for a double and pulled off, that would have been better -- but that’s hard to do, especially with how hard he plays.”

Asked if he thought about pulling up and conceding the double, Soto said, “At the moment, you try to make the play. Definitely after the ball goes by, you feel really bad. But at the end of the day, when the ball was hit, I thought I had a chance, but the ball just kept fading and kept going.”

Moments later, Will Smith drove in Hernandez on a sacrifice fly made possible, in part, by a Soto throw that did not have enough on it. Limited speed and a below average arm -- combined with hustle and a hard-nosed approach -- define Soto’s outfield play.

Torres’ moment was uglier. With the Yankees leading 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Shohei Ohtani doubled off the right field wall. As he pulled into second, Soto’s throw clanked off Torres’ glove and bounced deeper into the infield. While Torres briefly tried to locate the ball, Ohtani dashed for third.

For years, Torres’ lack of concentration has frustrated the Yankees. He is not always ready for the pitch -- a fact of which other team’s scouts are well aware -- and he fails to implement basic technique. It is a strange aspect of his game, because he cares about winning and wants to do well. The issue is focus, not effort. But it’s the same result.

On this play, according to a longtime infield coach, Torres neglected to implement basic technique.

“He needed to move his feet closer to the base to create the long hops,” the coach said. “Good infielders are always creating good long hops by moving their feet.” 

Instead, Torres stayed too close to Soto, failing to put himself in better position to field what should have been a longer hop.

True to character, Torres fielded every question about the moment -- though he did not necessarily provide as clear an explanation as the infield coach did.

“Difficult hop,” he said. “I just tried to get over to the cutoff [throw].”

Ohtani scored on a Mookie Betts sacrifice fly. Not long after, chaos and drama reigned. But the game would never have gone to that place, had Soto and Torres approached that pair of earlier plays a bit more judiciously.