The blame for Toronto’s heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series should not fall on Isiah Kiner-Falefa, according to Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
Schneider spoke with reporters Tuesday at the MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando and said Kiner-Falefa was listening to the coaching staff with the size of his lead off of third base in the bottom of the ninth inning that resulted in him being thrown out at home plate by a matter of inches.
“For one, I feel bad for [Kiner-Falefa] getting all the blame. Izzy’s a hell of a baseball player,” Schneider said.
“Could we have done a better job of getting him off [third base] a little bit? Yeah. Another step or two. There’s been video of [third base coach Carlos Febles] kind of telling him where to go. What’s not talked about, I think, enough is that [Dodgers catcher] Will Smith likes to back-pick to third with left-handed hitters up.”
There were several instances the Blue Jays came within inches of winning their first World Series since 1993 and perhaps none was closer than in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, Kiner-Falefa on third, and Daulton Varsho at the plate. On a 1-2 count, Varsho hit a groundball to a drawn-in Miguel Rojas at second base. Rojas fielded the ball, briefly stumbled and threw a strike to Smith at the plate to get Kiner-Falefa by a hair. Ironically, Rojas’ solo home run tied the game earlier in the inning and Smith’s eventually won things for the Dodgers in the 11th.
After the game, many pointed out that the Blue Jays utilityman got a poor secondary lead and took issue with his feet-first slide into home plate.
“I don’t really think that he could have done much more,” Schneider said.
Schneider said he had three thoughts when Varsho made contact, and none of them included the Dodgers being able to throw out Kiner-Falefa at home.
“I thought it was going to be fielded and Rojas falls backwards, game over. Or fielded, falls, throws a worm-burner to the mound, game over. Or field, throw, throw wide of Will Smith, game over. So when none of those things happened, can’t tell you what was going through my head or out of my mouth at that time,” he said.
The Jays skipper said they’ll use the play as a teaching moment.
“So, again, we’re going to use it as a tool to get better. That sounds corny to say, holy hell, it’s the World Series but yeah, we could have told him to get off a little bit more”
“It stings. It hurts. I’ve seen that video 3,000 times and 1,500 of them it looks like Will is off the plate. You know what I mean? And the other half it looks like he’s on. So, that’s how close it was, that’s why details matter.”
Next up was Ernie Clement, who got a hold of one to left, but Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages made a leaping catch to end the inning and denied the Jays a title on a second consecutive play.
“I’ll think about it until the day I leave this earth,” Schneider said of Game 7. “Every time I kind of go down a rabbit hole, I find myself in a new rabbit hole, you know, to be honest with you.”
