Three St. Louis Cardinals infielders toed the grass between second base and first base at Citi Field on Monday night, standing within a few feet of each other, like wide receivers bunched along the line of scrimmage.
It was an exaggerated defensive shift, and at the plate, Lucas Duda might have been questioning what he saw. There appeared to be three second basemen, no fielder within 10 feet of where the shortstop normally stood and a third baseman holding Curtis Granderson hard to the bag at third.
Even more than usual, the formation teased Duda: Go the other way if you can.