Blue Jays’ World Series Game 1 Victory Is A Win For An Old-school Approach

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays are retired to alteration baseball, 1 stinking, annoying, pesky, skin-crawling, chalkboard-scratching, stone-in-my-shoe, please-make-it-stop foul shot astatine a time.

“That’s our goal,” says Toronto infielder Isaih Kiner-Falefa. “To alteration baseball. We’re doing thing that’s not taught anymore. We’re trying to bring shot backmost to … well, baseball.”

It is simply a lofty extremity that is 3 wins wrong scope aft specified a pestiferous 11–4 World Series Game 1 triumph Friday complete Los Angeles that aft it, Dodgers pitchers should person been reaching for calamine lotion alternatively of ice.

After 5 seasons successful which only a top-four location tally squad has won nan World Series, Toronto (11th successful homers, first successful lowest strikeout rate) wants to move nan shot world upside down, if not backmost to nan 1970s.

The Blue Jays scored their 11 runs connected 14 hits, including 3 homers, while striking retired conscionable 4 times. Talk astir retro. They turned nan shot timepiece each nan measurement backmost to 1978, nan clip of doorbell bottoms, emotion beads and nan only World Series crippled successful which a squad had truthful galore runs, hits and homers pinch only 4 strikeouts: an 11–5 triumph for nan Dodgers complete nan Yankees successful 1978 World Series Game 3.

So artful was Toronto it had astir arsenic galore hits arsenic swings and misses (15). The Blue Jays fouled disconnected 39 pitches, 19 of them pinch 2 strikes. Their move astatine bat successful nan sixth inning played retired for illustration 1 of those floor-borne domino cascades successful which nan tiles topple complete one-by-one successful serpentine style; location was artistry successful a concatenation guidance that seemed to spell connected forever.

Twelve batters against 3 pitchers successful that inning saw 44 pitches, including 15 pitches pinch 2 strikes without a plaything and miss, fouled 12 pitches, put 9 balls successful play, drew 2 walks, took a deed by transportation and deed 2 homers.

“The epitome of really we play baseball,” infielder Ernie Clement calls it. “That inning is beautiful overmuch each we do arsenic a team, arsenic a group.”

The Dodgers brought to nan bid nan champion swing-and-miss pitching unit successful nan National League, particularly Game 1 starter Blake Snell, who had a 50% whiff complaint successful 3 postseason starts this year. Now they cognize they person a conflict connected their hands pinch nan toughest squad to put distant successful baseball, whether that refers to erstwhile nan Jays way (they scored 11 unanswered runs aft falling down 2–0) aliases erstwhile they person 2 strikes.

“He had his worldly tonight,” Kiner-Falefa says. “We did a bully occupation of getting into their bullpen. The infinitesimal he came retired of nan crippled we took advantage. We wore him down arsenic overmuch arsenic we could. And it’s reliable to deterioration him down erstwhile he’s successful nan area arsenic overmuch arsenic he was.”

Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, right, deed a two-run homer to put nan finishing touch connected nan Dodgers successful Toronto’s nine-run sixth inning. / Erick Rasco/Sports Illustrated

What is happening successful this warfare of guidance successful Canada is simply a synchronicity of hitting accuracy and sports capacity experts connected some nan diversion training and spot training sides. Everything is connected. Everything is coordinated by first-year hitting coach David Popkins, 35, and adjunct hitting coaches Lou Iannotti, 32, and Hunter Mense, 41, nary of whom played a time successful nan large leagues but person plentifulness of acquisition playing independent ball.

Each day, for instance, nan squad posts a readout of each player’s bat velocity from nan erstwhile night’s game.

“So, if a guy’s bat speeds are down, past he’ll deed nan weight room,” Kiner-Falefa says. “Or I'll backmost disconnected connected nan section [pregame work]. And if my bat speed’s down again, past I request to spell successful and get successful nan weight room and get pinch nan hitting coaches and make nan mechanical accommodation to get nan bat velocity backmost up.”

Mostly each nan Blue Jays besides deterioration Catapult vests that way regular power expenditure.

“We deterioration those Catapults and they’d beryllium like, ‘Alright, you’re moving retired excessively much,’” Kiner-Falefa says. “It was nan first clip wherever I saw it wherever they helped you get fresh for nan game. It wasn't conscionable for illustration search really overmuch you did. They’re search your [swing] rotation to see, ‘Hey, my rotation's 50% low.’ It’s very accomplishment specific.”

Sometimes nan hole is physical.

“It could conscionable beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic something’s locked up successful your body,” Kiner-Falefa says. “Okay, past you spell successful nan training room. And this is nan champion wellness facility, weight room and training unit I person ever seen.”

In caller years nan Blue Jays truthful meticulously overhauled their location clubhouse facilities—which agelong from location sheet to nan leftfield foul pole—that they modeled their betterment room aft a Four Seasons resort, complete pinch sauna, basking and acold tubs and a stone waterfall that spills complete a elephantine Blue Jays logo successful a chromatic wall.

“The hitting coaches will nonstop maine to nan weight room, for illustration if I’m not hinging properly,” Kiner-Falefa says. “The weight training coaches will nonstop maine to nan training room and say, ‘You're not capable to hinge,’ aliases ‘do your RDL [Roman deadlift] right. You gotta get worked on.’ They are truthful successful sync that past twelvemonth erstwhile I was here, I had my champion violative year, and I felt for illustration it had a batch to do pinch weight training coaches and training staff.”

The hitting coaches promote uncovering different ways to hit opponents, not conscionable nan modern measurement of trading retired for location runs and accepting strikeouts arsenic nan tariff. Each day, successful summation to posting regular bat speeds, Popkins and nan hitting group support way of an soul points system, which is utilized successful nan insignificant convention strategy arsenic well.

“So, it’s things for illustration balls-in-play points,” Clement says, “and past it’s based connected your plaything decisions. Like, ‘Did you plaything astatine strikes?’ And past it’s like, ‘How apt was nan plaything that you had to beryllium astatine slightest a guidelines deed aliases person damage?’

“We did a batch of it successful Triple A, not truthful overmuch here, but I for illustration to benignant of cheque nan numbers and spot wherever we're at. I mean, it decidedly reinforces nan thought of what you're trying to do, right?”

Popkins’s accuracy besides adheres to a tenet that is anathema to astir teams: crushed balls are okay.

“Other teams I played connected were much astir location runs,” says Kiner-Falefa, a erstwhile Yankee. “It’s just, ‘We're going to hit you pinch location runs.’ But I consciousness for illustration this team, sometimes it’s amended to put a shot connected nan ground—in definite situations. Where I consciousness for illustration I could get a deed that way. So, nan hitting coaches do a awesome occupation of letting you spell retired location and beryllium like, ‘It’s okay to deed nan shot connected nan ground. Just deed it hard.’

“As opposed to successful New York, it’s each pull-side successful nan air. And if you don’t, if you deed nan shot connected nan ground, you’re successful trouble. So present it’s like, we don’t attraction astir nan results—I mean, we care—but we attraction astir really difficult we deed nan shot and putting nan shot successful play and swinging astatine bully pitches.”

The measurement Toronto teaches two-strike hitting is fascinating successful its posture-based approach.

“Our hitting coaches do a awesome occupation of making america beryllium athletic,” Kiner-Falefa says. “They effort to make everybody diversion truthful that erstwhile you get to 2 strikes you’re not breaking down and you’re not stiff. They want america to get our swings disconnected but astatine nan aforesaid clip it’s not being stiff. It’s conscionable fighting and there’s a [priority on] competing retired location and location is pridefulness successful putting nan shot successful play, which is uncommon these days.”

The Blue Jays had 4 walks to spell pinch their 4 strikeouts. It had been 20 years, going backmost to nan 2005 White Sox, since a squad opened nan World Series pinch 4 aliases less strikeouts and conscionable arsenic galore walks.

The cardinal storyline astatine nan onset of this bid was nan matchup betwixt nan red-hot swing-and-miss pitching staff of nan Dodgers against nan red-hot, put-the-ball-in-play hitters of nan Blue Jays. Good pitching, arsenic nan adage goes, is expected to triumph those battles. But Game 1 group up nan anticipation that possibly it’s bully hitting’s move to win. Maybe putting nan shot successful play is nan postmodern measurement forward. Maybe nan Blue Jays are nan early of baseball—or astatine slightest for nan adjacent week.

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