CHICAGO — As soon as Jon Lester pulled his bat back from a bunt and the pitch landed in the glove of Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Carlos Ruiz, a singular thought jumped into the head of Javier Baez as he bounded down the third-base line.
Uh, oh.
“I went a little early,” he said, a smile creasing his face. “Or much early, I guess.”
As the postseason has increasingly revealed, Baez, the Chicago Cubs’ young dynamo, does not do half measures. He will flip his bat and admire the arc of balls that may (or may not) be home runs.