Richard Catangay-LiewIt wasn’t supposed to end this way. Almost everybody expected it to be almost a walkover. But instead, the Blue Jays-Rangers American League Divisional Series ended up having enough odd occurrences and emotionally charged sequences to fill an entire season. It was a series of high highs, and low lows, but ultimately, the Jays were able to come out on top, punching their ticket to the League Championship Series in historic fashion.
Let us take you back all the way to Thursday, Oct. 8, when the series started. In lieu of what transpired, it seems like an eternity ago that starting pitcher Yovanni Gallardo junk-balled his way past the Jays in game one, somehow managing to pitch a respectable game despite only throwing 5/20 first pitch strikes. David Price looked human, contrary to his amazing run that lifted the Jays into the playoffs in the first place. That shouldn’t have really come as a shock though, as his only playoff win before this series came in relief way back in 2008. Rougned Odor posted one of the oddest playoff box scores of all time, homering in his first official at-bat in the seventh inning, after being hit his first two times at the plate. The Jays lost their first playoff game in 22 years, 5-3.
Game two marked the playoff debut of one Marcus Stroman, whose impossibly quick return from a torn ACL suffered in spring training had been one of the highlights of the season for the Jays. It was the umpires who took centre stage in this game though, at first irking fans with a tight strike zone when Stroman was on the mound, then enraging them by calling Rougned Odor safe in the 14th inning, on a play where his foot appeared to come off the bag when he attempted to get back to second base after Jose Bautista threw behind him. The replay was shown on the jumbotron, the fans saw what appeared to be daylight between Odor’s foot and the base, but the umpires didn’t and called him safe. The Rangers would score twice in the inning, winning the game 6-4 in 14 innings, and sending Jays fans home with a decidedly sour taste in their mouths.
The series was now 2-0 Rangers, and the Jays weren’t just in a hole, they were in a crater, especially after their demoralizing game two loss. The Jays dug in their heels however, and got down to business in Texas, winning both games in decidedly Jays-like fashion, 5-1 in game three, and 8-4 in game four. Both games were decidedly tamer than the first two, with David Price actually picking up a win in relief in game four — with three rather uninspiring innings, but being staked to an 8-1 lead may have had something to do with that. Everything how hinged on game five, where it would be a rematch of game two: Marcus Stroman vs. Cole Hamels, and what a game it was.
Early on, it looked like a repeat of game two. Stroman gave up a run in the first, then a long home run to Shin-Soo Choo in the third, and it looked like the Jays were on their last legs. After getting a run back in the bottom of the third, Edwin Encarnacion announced his arrival in the series with an epic homer into the third deck at Rogers Centre, tying the game at two.
After this point, things descended into madness.
Stroman was relieved by Aaron Sanchez after pitching six solid innings, and Sanchez gave up a leadoff single to Rougned Odor, who at this point was probably the most hated man in Toronto. Odor advanced to third after a bunt and a groundout, and stood there as Choo took a high cutter from Sanchez for a ball. Like he had done thousands of times before in his career, Russell Martin threw the ball back to his pitcher, only this time, it bounced off Choo’s bat while he was preparing for the next pitch. The ball rolled down the third base line, and while everyone on the Jays stood around confusedly, Odor alertly scampered home from third. After initially calling time, home plate umpire Dale Scott got his crew together for a conference, and awarded the Rangers a run, based on rule 6.03a in the official MLB rulebook, which covers batters interfering with the ball. Basically, an umpire can call a batter out if he thinks that the batter interfered with the throw back to the mound, or if the batter stepped out of the batter’s box to interfere. Here’s the crucial part though, Choo didn’t by all accounts intentionally interfere, so the ball is technically live:
“However, if the batter is standing in the batter’s box and he or his bat is struck by the catcher’s throw back to the pitcher (or throw in attempting to retire a runner) and, in the umpire’s judgment, there is no intent on the part of the batter to interfere with the throw, the ball is alive and in play.”
That is a quote directly from the MLB rulebook, and freakishly, that is pretty much exactly what happened on that play. Choo didn’t mean to interfere with Martin’s throw — he was just getting ready for his next swing.
The run was counted, and pandemonium ensued: John Gibbons argued the play ferociously, garbage rained down from the stands, and a thrown beer from the upper deck bottle may or may not have hit an infant and his mother sitting close to the Jays’ dugout. All in all, it was a circus, and the game was delayed 18 minutes. When the dust and the garbage had cleared, the Jays were playing the game under protest, and it was their turn to bat in the bottom of the seventh, down 3-2.
What happened next was almost more improbable. The much maligned Martin, having committed baseball’s most improbable error at the worst possible time, led off the inning with a routine grounder to short. Ranger’s shortstop Elvis Andrus had more time than he thought, and tried to field the ball on the run, only to see it bounce off the heel of his glove for an error. Kevin Pillar was up next, and bounced a weak chopper to first baseman Mitch Moreland, who spiked his throw to second base, meaning all hands were safe. Jays fans were thinking at this point that they’d take a Ryan Goins sacrifice to put runners on second and third with one out, but the Rangers weren’t done giving away outs just yet. After Goins bunted up the third base line, the Rangers executed perfectly, as Adrian Beltre rushed in, fielded the ball, and threw perfect strike to third base. Andrus, somehow, dropped the ball again, committing his second error of the inning. The Jays now had the bases loaded with nobody out, with their best contact hitter at the plate in Ben Revere.
Revere chopped a ball to first, and the Rangers only were able to get one out as pinch runner Dalton Pompey executed a takeout slide normally seen at second base at home, upending Rangers catcher Chris Gimenez. This play was reviewed, and eventually upheld, but the second delay in the inning allowed the tension at Rogers Centre to ratchet up another several degrees.
By the way, Hamels was still in the game at this point, and after inducing the Revere groundout, was yanked in favour of former Jay Sam Dyson, the revelation of the Rangers bullpen. If anyone could have gotten out of this jam, it would be him. Josh Donaldson stepped up, and after taking two balls that were nowhere near the play, took a mighty hack and hit the ball about 60 feet.
In any other scenario, this would be a pop up to second base, but for some reason, Odor, who was in the middle of everything on this day, seemed to get his feet caught in quicksand, and couldn’t backpedal on the ball fast enough. It dropped in, allowing the tying run to score, but Revere was out at second base in what was probably the strangest looking fielder’s choice of all time.
Jose Bautista came up next, and made his October dream a reality, smashing a Dyson fastball into the seats, and giving his team a 6-3 lead. He also flipped his bat nearly as far as he hit the ball, in what will probably be one of the most iconic images in Jays’ history. More garbage rained on the field after the home run, and Edwin Encanacion was seen appealing to fans stop, something that Dyson mistook as egging the already rowdy fans on. Words were exchanged, the benches emptied, and the game was delayed yet again. After Dyson eventually got Troy Tulowitzki to pop out to end the inning, he gave him a tap on the behind as he exited the field. The benches cleared again, and the 53-minute inning finally came to a close.
You’d be forgiven if you forgot there was still baseball to play after this, but the Rangers tried their best to dig themselves out of the hole they’d created in the bottom of the seventh. Sanchez was still on the mound, but would eventually exit after putting two men on with only one out.
This gave 20-year-old Roberto Osuna his chance to shine. He’d been perfect in the series so far, throwing four shutout innings, but this was by far the tensest moment of the series. And did he ever rise to the occasion, striking out Josh Hamilton and Andrus, who pretty much had the worst day ever, to end the inning. He then retired the side in the ninth, and the Jays won their first postseason series in 22 years, in unforgettable fashion.
This is the type of game that you’ll tell your kids about. You’ll remember where you were when Bautista hit that ball into the stratosphere, you’ll remember the bat flip to end all bat flips, you’ll remember the ball off Choo’s bat, and you’ll remember Osuna taking care of business in the eighth and ninth. If the Jays do go on to win the World Series, they’ll probably still never play as entertaining a game as this one. That old adage proved true, no matter how many games you watch, you always have the chance to see something new.
