Wednesday’s final game of the ALDS between Toronto and Texas, particularly the bizarre happenings in the 7th inning, has the makings of a legendary post-season contest. While it has been said that there hasn’t been a post-season game like it before and probably won’t be again, there are more than passing similarities to another October game from a number of years ago, 98 to be exact.

More after the jump on a weird Wednesday in Toronto, and another odd game many Octobers ago.

If you didn’t catch Wednesday’s game, here’s a brief synopsis. The deciding game of the series was tied at 2-2 heading to the 7th inning that began with a leadoff single by Ranger second baseman Rougned Odor. Odor would reach third base with two outs and Shin-Soo Choo at the plate, before scoring on a throwing error by Toronto catcher Russell Martin. Except it wasn’t quite as simple as that. The throwing error was on Martin’s toss back to the pitcher and resulted from his throw hitting Choo’s bat. Home plate umpire Dale Scott muddied things by calling the play dead and sending Odor back to third, apparently in the belief that Choo had interfered with Martin’s throw (yet Scott did not call Choo out, as required by rule 6.03 (a) (3) which reads “A batter is out for illegal action when he interferes with the catcher’s fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter’s box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher’s play at home base.”) . Seventeen minutes later, after protests by both managers, an umpire huddle, a video review, an ejected player, an official protest by Toronto and a field strewn with debris by disgruntled fans,  the original call was reversed (as it should have been) and Odor’s run was counted. But, the weird stuff had only just begun.

On to the bottom of the 7th and the first two Toronto batters both hit weak grounders off Ranger starter Cole Hamels. Except, instead of two out and nobody on, it was the reverse after a fielding error by shortstop Elvis Andrus and a throwing error by first baseman Mitch Moreland. Toronto second baseman Ryan Goins then laid down the expected bunt, but a very poor one that failed to advance even the speedy Dalton Pompey, pinch-running at second base. Except Pompey was safe after Andrus somehow dropped an easy toss from Ranger third baseman Adrian Beltre. Toronto would tie the game on a check swing pop-up by Josh Donaldson that dropped just beyond the reach of drawn-in second baseman Odor, and then go ahead on a mammoth two-out, 3-run blast by Jose Bautista (accented by Bautista’s admiration of his handiwork following a very exaggerated bat flip). Bautista’s antics, and another torrent of debris from the stands (this time in celebration), would result in on-field confrontations involving both benches, before the next batter came to the plate and again at the end of the inning.

Curious whether a post-season game had ever before witnessed three errors on batted balls in play in the same half-inning, I consulted Baseball-Reference‘s Play Index and found that that has happened on three previous occasions:

• Game 5 of 1903 WS – Pirates in top of 6th inning, against Americans
• Game 1 of 1916 WS – Robins in bottom of 7th inning, against Red Sox
• Game 6 of 1917 WS – Giants in top of 4th inning, against White Sox

The last of those three games struck me with the number of parallels to the Toronto-Texas tilt.

• the three errors occurred on batted balls by the first three hitters of the inning
• the last of the three errors resulted on a play that would have retired the lead runner and possibly squelched the uprising (in the Giant/White Sox game, there were runners at first and third when Chicago outfielder Happy Felsch hit a comebacker to the mound, catching Eddie Collins off the bag at third; Collins would score on a botched run down with Felsch making it all the way to second and then scoring on first baseman Chick Gandil‘s following single)
• the Giants, like the Rangers, were facing elimination
• the White Sox, like the Blue Jays, would score the runs that provided the margin of victory in a series clinching game

Some more statistical oddities from the Toronto/Texas game.

• Third time (2001 Yankees, 2012 Giants) a team has won an LDS after dropping the first two games at home
• Toronto’s three pitchers in the game (Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Roberto Osuna) make this the first time a team has won a sudden-death game (i.e. elimination game for both teams) using three or more pitchers, all aged 24 or younger (the Cardinals did this in an elimination game, with Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal, in game 4 of 2013 NLDS against the Pirates).
• Roberto Osuna’s 5-out save was notable on several fronts:
  • Youngest pitcher to save an elimination game.
  • Most pitches (34) in a post-season save of less than 6 outs with every batter retired (Mariano Rivera used one more pitch for a two inning save in game 4 of the 2005 ALDS against the Angels).
  • Four strikeouts in a 5-out save, with every batter retired. Tied with Juan Berenguer in game 2 of the 1987 ALCS.