By BEN WALKER Associated Press
It was the most debated play of the year in Major League Baseball, perhaps the most dissected and discussed sequence in World Series history.
Should Isiah Kiner-Falefa have taken a bigger lead? Why did the third base coach draw a line in the dirt right there? What if IKF sprinted to the plate instead of sliding?
“I’ll think about it until the day I leave this earth,” Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider lamented.
Crazily close to dethroning the champion Dodgers in a pulsating Game 7. A couple mere inches, a cleat mark just short of winning the crown, right?
In fact, no.
Not that it’ll 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’ throw home was moot: IKF was already out.
“After reviewing all relevant angles, the replay official definitively determined the catcher’s foot was touching the plate when the ball contacted the interior of his mitt,” read the official report by MLB, which recently provided it to The Associated Press.
A final piece of the puzzle, a last look at a play that still fascinates the sports world. Smith’s foot was on the plate when he caught the ball, and that’s when Kiner-Falefa was forced out.
So how close did Toronto really come to winning there in the bottom of the ninth inning? Make it more like 3 feet.
“I never felt my foot come off,” Smith said this month at a World Baseball Classic practice session. “I didn’t really realize it (was close) until I saw the replay, so I wasn’t trying to go back and touch it.”
The three-time All-Star said he hadn’t seen the MLB report from the replay center.
“I just cared that he was out,” Smith said.
MLB Statcast doesn’t have an exact measurement — the tracking data put IKF’s center of mass about 5 feet from the plate, his left leg was extended farther.
“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?” Schneider said at the winter meetings in December, a month after that 5-4 loss in 11 innings. “And the other half it looks like he’s on. So, that’s how close it was.”
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.
“Didn’t realize that it was actually going to be that close of a play,” he said. “If I was a step further, yeah, I would have been safe. But I wasn’t.”
Turns out he needed a few more feet, not inches.
Rojas’ 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.
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.
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.
Plate umpire Jordan Baker signaled 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.
TV replays clearly showed Smith’s foot re-tapped the plate with Kiner-Falefa’s foot only a few inches away. Many fans assumed that’s where the out occurred — but the official report confirms IKF was already erased.
Smith hit a home run in the 11th and the Dodgers held on for their second straight championship. He said he’s replayed the moment at the plate in his mind several times, and gives more credit to Rojas.
“I think it was more of an impressive play by Miggy in that situation. Tough hop,” he said. “All I had to do was catch the ball and get my foot down.”
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Walker is a retired AP Baseball Writer.
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AP Baseball Writer David Brandt contributed to this report.