Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> manager John Schneider lamented.<\/p>\nCrazily close to dethroning the champion Dodgers in a\u00a0pulsating Game 7. A couple mere inches, a cleat mark just short of winning the crown, right?<\/p>\n
Not that it\u2019ll lessen the sting for the Blue Jays and their fans, but the intense drama over Los Angeles catcher Will Smith lifting his spike off the plate and then resetting on second baseman Miguel Rojas\u2019 throw home was moot: IKF was already out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter reviewing all relevant angles, the replay official definitively determined the catcher\u2019s foot was touching the plate when the ball contacted the interior of his mitt,\u201d read the official report by MLB, which recently provided it to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
A final piece of the puzzle, a last look at a play that still fascinates the sports world. Smith\u2019s foot was on the plate when he caught the ball, and that\u2019s when Kiner-Falefa was forced out.<\/p>\n
So how close did Toronto really come to winning there in the bottom of the ninth inning? Make it more like three feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never felt my foot come off,\u201d Smith said this month at a World Baseball Classic practice session. \u201cI didn\u2019t really realize it (was close) until I saw the replay, so I wasn\u2019t trying to go back and touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three-time all-star said he hadn\u2019t seen the MLB report from the replay centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just cared that he was out,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
MLB Statcast doesn\u2019t have an exact measurement \u2014 the tracking data put IKF\u2019s centre of mass about five feet from the plate, his left leg was extended farther.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen that video 3,000 times and 1,500 of them it looks like Will is off the plate. You know what I mean?\u201d Schneider said at the winter meetings in December, a month after that 5-4 loss in 11 innings. \u201cAnd the other half it looks like he\u2019s on. So, that\u2019s how close it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiner-Falefa signed with the Boston Red Sox last month. At his introductory news conference, his near-miss in Toronto remained a fresh topic. He was criticized all offseason for a conservative 7.8-foot lead off third base. He said he would have been more aggressive if not for a mandate from the Blue Jays to stay close to the bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t realize that it was actually going to be that close of a play,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I was a step further, yeah, I would have been safe. But I wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turns out he needed a few more feet, not inches.<\/p>\n
Rojas\u2019 solo home run with one out in the top of the ninth tied it at 4. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half, with Kiner-Falefa on third base as a pinch-runner for Bo Bichette.<\/p>\n
As Daulton Varsho batted against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, third-base coach Carlos Febles used his cleats to draw a line in the basepath, showing Kiner-Falefa how far to take his lead. It seemed significantly shorter than usual, and many fans blamed that for costing Toronto the title. The Blue Jays said they were worried about Smith trying a pickoff throw at third.<\/p>\n
Varsho hit a grounder that caused a drawn-in Rojas to take a brief stumble backward, but he recovered to make an accurate throw home. After Smith caught the ball, his back right foot briefly came off the plate before retouching. Kiner-Falefa slid home, focused on preventing Smith from making a double-play relay to first.<\/p>\n
Plate umpire Jordan Baker signalled out, and the Blue Jays challenged the ruling. Replay umpire Dan Iassogna, a veteran crew chief who has worked three World Series on the field, confirmed the call.<\/p>\n
TV replays clearly showed Smith\u2019s foot re-tapped the plate with Kiner-Falefa\u2019s foot only a few inches away. Many fans assumed that\u2019s where the out occurred \u2014 but the official report confirms IKF was already erased.<\/p>\n
Smith hit a home run in the 11th and the Dodgers held on for their second straight championship. He said he\u2019s replayed the moment at the plate in his mind several times, and gives more credit to Rojas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was more of an impressive play by Miggy in that situation. Tough hop,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I had to do was catch the ball and get my foot down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the\u00a0most debated play\u00a0of the year in Major League Baseball, perhaps the most dissected and discussed sequence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-534046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}