ORLANDO, Fla. — Having watched the play thousands of times, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider doesn’t want Isiah Kiner-Falefa to be criticized for getting thrown out at the plate in the ninth inning in Game 7 of the World Series — falling an inch short of scoring a championship-winning run.
“I feel so bad for Izzy for getting all the blame,” Schneider said Tuesday at the winter meetings. “So, could we have done a better job of getting Izzy another step or two down? Yeah, for sure.”
After Miguel Rojas hit a tying homer for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the top half, Bo Bichette singled with one out in the bottom half off Blake Snell and Kiner-Falefa entered as a pinch runner. Addison Barger walked, and Alejandro Kirk was hit by a pitch from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, loading the bases.
Kiner-Falefa took an unusual 7.8-foot lead at the behest of third base coach Carlos Febles, the fourth-shortest primary lead by a runner off third during the World Series, according to MLB Statcast. Kiner-Falefa’s 8.9-foot secondary lead when the pitcher released the ball was the eighth shortest during the Series.
With the Dodgers playing the infield in, Daulton Varsho hit a 76.9 mph two-hopper to Rojas. The second baseman gloved the ball, stumbled a bit and regained his balance, then threw to catcher Will Smith, who lifted his right foot off the plate as he caught the ball and then pushed his spike back down.
Plate umpire Jordan Baker signaled out, deciding Smith touched the plate just ahead of the left foot of the sliding Kiner-Falefa.
“I’ve seen that video 3,000 times, and in 1,500 of them it looks like Will’s off the plate. In the other half, it looks like he’s on,” Schneider said.
Baker’s call was upheld about 70 seconds later after a video review.
“There’s been video of Carlos kind of telling him where to go,” Schneider said, 5 ½ weeks after the Dodgers’ 5-4, 11-inning win closed out their second straight title. “What’s not talked about I think enough is the fact that Will Smith likes to back-pick to third with left-handed hitters up. It’s something we talked about before the Series, something that Carlos reminded Izzy of.
“So, it’s not runner at third going on contact, selling out, if it’s a line drive, you’re OK with it. It’s bases loaded. A, you don’t want to get back-picked. B, you don’t want to get doubled up on a line drive. People have said, yeah, what are the odds that Varsh is going to line out to third? Fairly low, right? That’s just where he doesn’t hit the ball.”
He didn’t fault IFK’s slide.
“I don’t really think that he could have done much more,” the manager explained. “People have said could he have run through the run through the plate? Could he have slid headfirst? … In my head, with the way Varsh hit it, I thought one of three things was going to happen. I thought it was going to be fielded, and Rojas falls backwards. Game over. Fielded, falls, throws a worm-burner to the mound. Game over. Or field, throw, throw wide of Will Smith. Game over.”
Ernie Clement followed with a 100.7 mph drive that center fielder Andy Pages snagged with a leaping backhand grab on the warning track as he knocked over left fielder Kiké Hernandez.
“Every time I kind of go down a rabbit hole, I find myself in a new rabbit hole,” Schneider said. “I haven’t watched everything. On a regular-season game, game over, next day or that night, boom, you’re checking tape, you’re running back — I haven’t done that yet and I don’t know when I will. It’ll probably involve a beer or two when the kids are asleep and I can throw some stuff against the wall. But, we’ll see. I’m starting to appreciate it from a fan’s standpoint.”
Schneider joked about finishing second to Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt for AL Manager of the Year — voting takes place before the postseason.
“It’s such a weird award,” he said. “I was kind of looking back at previous winners. These guys all got fired soon after there.”