Kenley Jansen is justifiably getting blamed for not backing up catcher on wild end to Game 4

That can’t happen.

There was so much to unpack from the wild, exhilaratingly hectic end to Saturday’s Game 4 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Rays.

In one play, we had a clutch two-strike hit, a bobble in the outfield, a nicely executed cutoff, a wipeout 45 feet from home plate, a catcher failing to catch and that same player who wiped out diving head-first into home for the win. That grammatically questionable sentence aside, the entire sequence was beautiful. It was the kind of edge-of-your-seat chaos that October baseball is all about.

But still, despite all that Dodgers calamity in the buildup to Randy Arozarena’s triumphant dive into home, the Dodgers should not have lost that game right there. All Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen had to do was execute the positional responsibility that he has practiced countless times in spring training:

Backing up the dang catcher!

Just watch Jansen here:

When all that mayhem was unfolding, Jansen dropped to his knees out of frustration. And once he got back to his feet, he slowly walked towards the third-base line to watch the play like a spectator. He should have, however, sprinted to back up catcher Will Smith because he knew there was going to be a play at the plate.

Arozarena wasn’t even in the picture yet when Max Muncy made his throw to home. Like, Arozarena was done.

But you’ll also see that Jansen was standing off to the side instead of backing up Smith. So, when Smith missed the throw, Arozarena was able to get up and dive safely into home without a play because Jansen was ball-watching.

Worst of all: Jansen has made this mistake before. The Dodgers lost to the Angels in 2018 because Jansen didn’t back up the catcher. He still hasn’t learned.

And when the Dodgers pitcher was asked about why he didn’t back up the catcher, he gave an answer with real “At the end of the day, we’re all gonna die“ energy.

And sure, this wasn’t all on Jansen. Chris Taylor booted the ball. Will Smith missed a throw. But Jansen should have been the last line of defense, and he went missing.

That justifiably won’t sit well with Dodgers fans.

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