St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith. (Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports)
The St. Louis Cardinals struck first against the Dodgers in the NL Wild Card with a run that goes to show how important Yadier Molina is.
When it comes to playing the catcher position, it doesn’t get much better than Yadier Molina for the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Dodgers might have wished they had someone like Molina behind the plate in the first inning of the NL Wild Card game.
Will Smith let in a Cardinals run that would have Yadier Molina shaking his head
LA’s catcher Will Smith got into trouble because of a wild pitch and his questionable stance with one knee on the ground. When Max Scherzer had a pitch get away from him, Smith wasn’t in position to deal with it.
The Cardinals scored the opening run of the matchup on that pitch because Smith let the pitch dribble away from him. The stance could be responsible for it all. Only time will tell if the mishap will have bigger implications for the game as a whole.
Smith could learn something from watching Molina on the other side. He might want to rethink his stance if he wants to be more of a defensive stalwart like his counterpart.