World Series 2025: Isiah KinerFalefa explains why he didn't take a bigger lead before pivotal force out at home Chris CwikNovember 2, 2025 at 10:58 PM 0 Over the course of an 11inning game, there are going to be plenty of missed opportunities by the losing team. For as hard as the Toronto Blue Jays fought to topple the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series, it's much easier to focus on their failures now that the dust has settled. One of those missed opportunities came in the bottom of the ninth.
- - World Series 2025: Isiah Kiner-Falefa explains why he didn't take a bigger lead before pivotal force out at home
Chris CwikNovember 2, 2025 at 10:58 PM
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Over the course of an 11-inning game, there are going to be plenty of missed opportunities by the losing team. For as hard as the Toronto Blue Jays fought to topple the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series, it's much easier to focus on their failures now that the dust has settled.
One of those missed opportunities came in the bottom of the ninth. With the game tied, Blue Jays second baseman Bo Bichette hit a one-out single to start a rally. Bichette, who dealt with a knee injury up until the World Series, was replaced by utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa at first. After a walk to Addison Barger and a hit-by-pitch, the Blue Jays suddenly had the bases loaded with just one out. A ball in the air, or a slow enough grounder, could win the game.
Knowing this, the Dodgers opted to play the infield in and go for the force out at home. Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho played into their hands, smacking a ball to second baseman Miguel Rojas. Kiner-Falefa raced home to try to beat the throw, but was out by half a second. It was a bang-bang play, but the Dodgers got the out. Two innings later, Los Angeles won the game.
Things might have been different, however, had Kiner-Falefa been more aggressive at third base. His unwillingness to take a significant lead from third base prior to the play may have cost the Blue Jays a run — and the game.
IKF at contact on that Varsho play.Inexcusable lack of secondary lead. Over-emphasis on avoiding a line drive double play. IKF can basically be as far away from third as Muncy is. He has at least two more steps.Only needed one. pic.twitter.com/W5GUixZvSu
— Jake Mintz (@Jake_Mintz) November 2, 2025
Once the dust settled, and angry Blue Jays fans were looking for someone to blame, Kiner-Falefa and his lead became a target. Kiner-Falefa, who apparently received threats after the game, was asked about his strategy on the play after the game.
Kiner-Falefa said he was listening to his coaches, who were trying to avoid the double play, according to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.
"[The coaches] told us to stay close to the base. They don't want us to get doubled off in that situation with a hard line drive. Varsho hits the ball really, really hard. [Muncy's] right there. I'm waiting for a backpick from Will Smith in that situation. I can't get doubled off right there so it's almost like a bases loaded. They wanted a smaller lead and a smaller secondary, so that's what I did.
"It was obviously a tough play. They got it done. The lead is small. In that situation, you can't get doubled off. I got the best secondary I could from that spot and it didn't work out."
That decision, in addition to Kiner-Falefa's minuscule secondary lead, will continue to be questioned, despite his response. But at least one impartial observer, former MLB infielder Whit Merrifield, said Kiner-Falefa did exactly what he was supposed to do on the play.
He did exactly right here. The #1 rule with bases loaded and less than 2 outs is you cannot get doubled up on a line drive to 3rd baseman. So your lead is as far as the 3rd baseman is from the bag. He did this perfect. https://t.co/korRLsDanR
— Whit Merrifield (@WhitMerrifield) November 2, 2025
While the result of the play didn't go the Blue Jays' way, the team still had another opportunity to win it that inning. With the bases still loaded, Ernie Clement flied out on a deep fly to left field to end the threat.
Despite the game lasting two more innings, Kiner-Falefa's lead — or lack thereof — remained one of the bigger talking points after the game. While it's convenient to point to that play as a pivotal moment, there were a number of other plays that drastically impacted a game. That's always going to be the case in an tight, 11-inning contest.
The Blue Jays never would have never found themselves in that position had closer Jeff Hoffman not given up a game-tying home run to Rojas in the top of the ninth. While Kiner-Falefa was ruled out, the Blue Jays still had another opportunity when Clement came to the plate. In the 11th inning, Alejandro Kirk couldn't avoid the double play when it mattered most.
When a team loses, it's easy to focus on the failures. But that, of course, tells only half the story. The Dodgers rose to the occasion time after time to make sure the Blue Jays didn't win the game. Los Angeles made two phenomenal plays in the ninth inning to keep Toronto from scoring. Rojas' throw home to nab Kiner-Falefa was perfect despite the second baseman slipping after fielding the ball. Andy Pages collided with his teammate at the wall to catch Clement's fly ball for the final out of the inning. Despite throwing 96 pitches in Game 6, Yoshinobu Yamamoto still had 34 excellent pitches left in his arm.
To blame the Blue Jays is to discredit the Dodgers, and anyone who watched Game 7 knows that's not what it looked like in the moment. Two tightly matched teams engaged in one of the best World Series in recent memory, and gave everything they had to try and win in all.
Boiling that series down to one play does it a massive disservice. And obscures from that fact that, in a seven-game series that featured two extra-inning affairs, there are dozens and dozens of moments you can point to that might have swung the series.
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: Sports
Published: November 02, 2025 at 05:27PM on Source: BERRY MAG
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