MLB report settles Game 7 plate drama

Isiah Kiner-Falefa was out by feet, not inches

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Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith takes the throw to force the Toronto Blue Jays’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa out at home plate for the second out during the ninth inning in Game 7 of the World Series at Rogers Center in Toronto. Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images/TNS

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Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with teammates last month after scoring on a double hit by Nick Senzel against the San Diego Padres during a spring training game at Peoria Stadium in Peoria, Ariz., Norm Hall/Getty Images

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Former Toronto Blue Jay’s teammate and now Boston Red Sox third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa throws to first on a single by Atlanta Braves Jorge Mateo during a spring training baseball game last month in North Port, Fla. Gerald Herbert/ap

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By Ben Walker

Associated Press

It was the most debated play of the year in Major League Baseball, perhaps the most dissected and discussed sequence in World Series history.

Should Isiah Kiner-Falefa have taken a bigger lead? Why did the third base coach draw a line in the dirt right there? What if IKF sprinted to the plate instead of sliding?

“I’ll think about it until the day I leave this earth,” Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider lamented.

Crazily close to dethroning the champion Dodgers in a pulsating Game 7. A couple mere inches, a cleat mark just short of winning the crown, right?

In fact, no.

Not that it’ll lessen the sting for the Blue Jays and their fans, but the intense drama over Los Angeles catcher Will Smith lifting his spike off the plate and then resetting on second baseman Miguel Rojas’ throw home was moot: IKF was already out.

“After reviewing all relevant angles, the replay official definitively determined the catcher’s foot was touching the plate when the ball contacted the interior of his mitt,” read the official report by MLB, which recently provided it to The Associated Press.

A final piece of the puzzle, a last look at a play that still fascinates the sports world. Smith’s foot was on the plate when he caught the ball, and that’s when Kiner-Falefa was forced out.

So how close did Toronto really come to winning there in the bottom of the ninth inning? Make it more like 3 feet.

“I never felt my foot come off,” Smith said this month at a World Baseball Classic practice session. “I didn’t really realize it (was close) until I saw the replay, so I wasn’t trying to go back and touch it.”

The three-time All-Star said he hadn’t