Jason Kipnis admits the Cleveland Guardians (then Indians) were inches away from winning the 2016 World Series.
Jason Kipnis stood in the batter’s box in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series with the game tied at six runs apiece. That scenario is one that every kid plays out in backyards and on Little League fields, and Kipnis’ dreams were inches away from coming true.
The then-Cleveland Indians' second baseman made contact with a pitch from Chicago Cubs superstar closer Aroldis Chapman, and from the camera angle on the broadcast and from certain parts of the park, the ball looked like it was destined to sail over the right field wall for a walk-off, game-winning, World Series clinching home run.
Instead, the ball landed just out of a play along the right field foul line.
Fans across Progressive Field and in family rooms all around Cleveland groaned because of what could have been.
Ten years later, Kipnis still admits that the ball was inches away from being a home run, not because of where it landed, but because of how he hit it.
“When people say, like, it was a couple of feet or inches away, I think I just was… was an inch away, but that inch would have been where the baseball was on my bat,” explained Kipnis during Cleveland’s 2016 reunion on Friday.
“Like, it was just a little bit, catch it a little bit deeper [in the zone], that could keep it fair.”
Nov 2, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis (22) reacts after scoring on a wild pitch against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning in game seven of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY SportsSo many Cleveland fans have replayed the video and wished for a different outcome since that disappointing November night 10 years ago, and Kipnis admitted he’s one of them.
“I've seen it in the camera view. It looks like a home run from, like, the center view of the TV view. But at most, it wasn't going to go out. It was just too much side spinning. [Chapman] threw like six straight sliders, and I was ready for the fastball.”
Even to this day, when the conversation of the biggest “what ifs” in Indians and Cleveland sports history, Kipnis’ near World Series-winning home run is almost always one of the first moments that comes to mind.
It’s hard not to think about what could have been if Kipnis swung a millisecond later or if Chapman actually did throw a heater.
Cleveland was so close to winning a World Series in 2016. The team was literally inches, as Kipnis described.
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