Seventh Inning Stretch

Tonight's ALDS Game 5 between the Blue Jays and Rangers will, forever, be reduced to one inning. It's already happening, on websites, social media, in the minds of reporters. By tomorrow, the process will be complete. It wasn't a game the Blue Jays will have won; it was the seventh inning.

Many great accomplishments will be glossed over in the process. Great pitching performances by Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna. Amazing defence from Kevin Pillar, Ryan Goins and Josh Donaldson. A sixth inning, game-tying home run from Edwin Encarnacion that looked for about twenty minutes like it would be the story of the night. Too bad for Eddie, I suppose. There was a bigger myth to be made.

You've heard the story already I'm sure. Russell Martin receives a strike from Sanchez and as he moves to toss it back, he accidentally bounces it off Shin-Soo Choo's bat. It looks like the home plate umpire calls time, but Rougned Odor scores from third anyway. Then follow eighteen-minutes of screaming, debating, bench-clearing and (shamefully) garbage throwing from Toronto's fans. Police come onto the field. Calls are made to New York. The safe call for Odor is upheld and Toronto continues the game under protest. Sanchez promptly strikes out Choo.

Then comes the bottom half and the myth is written in stone. Two groundballs and a well-charged bunt on the part of the Blue Jays. What should have been three outs for the Rangers. But Elvis Andrus misplays all three. Three outs are instead three baserunners. One comes in on a pop-up from Josh Donaldson that finds a hole in shallow right. The slide from Dalton Pompey is questionably dirty, so there's another review. Tension grows. The call is upheld for the Blue Jays – tie game again.

Then comes Jose Bautista. Nobody else you'd rather have at the plate right now and he proves why. The ball rockets off his bat and lands deep in the left field bleachers. When it flies over the fence, he flips his bat, shouts and offers the world a stare that shames anybody for ever thinking he might not be able to do this. Undoubtedly, that will go down as one of the biggest home runs in Blue Jays history.

More outs, more hits, another bench-clearing came after that. But it all felt like a formality. The Blue Jays had stared losing in the eye and they shot the notion into the bleachers. From now until forever, that game will be about a ball bouncing off a bat, three balls bouncing out of a glove and a bat smashing away all the tension in the building.