Blue Jays would've won World Series if Isiah Kiner-Falefa took a better lead off third base

Billy Heyen

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Blue Jays would've won World Series if Isiah Kiner-Falefa took a better lead off third base image

In a game of inches, Isiah Kiner-Falefa didn't give himself enough of a chance.

The Toronto Blue Jays had the bases loaded with one out, and IKF represented the potential walk-off run on third base.

And for whatever reason, Kiner-Falefa got almost no lead at all.

He was thrown at home plate by Miguel Rojas on a ground ball, out by just a fraction of a second, out by an amount that would've changed if Kiner-Falefa's secondary lead was further off the bag.

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Here's a look where you can see IKF on third essentially stay stationary as the pitcher delivers home, rather than starting to move even a little bit further off the base. He also could've run through home plate and potentially gotten there just a bit faster.

The Athletic's Chris Kirschner then provided these three stats about IKF's lead:

  • "His 7.8 ft primary lead ranked 357/381 out of all primary leads in the World Series."
  • "His 8.9 ft secondary lead ranked 366/376 out of all secondary leads in the WS."
  • "His 28.2 ft/s sprint speed ranked 61/689 out of all sprint speeds in the WS."

Kiner-Falefa was fast enough to get there. He just hadn't set himself up for success.

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This all would've been a moot point if the next batter Ernie Clement's deep fly to left wasn't caught by a leaping Andy Pages as he ran through his fellow outfielder.

It also wouldn't have mattered if the Blue Jays had cashed in on a couple of other chances.

But this one hurts. There's no reason Kiner-Falefa's lead should've been that short. And it cost the Blue Jays a championship.

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