With the potential winning run just 90 feet away, the Toronto Blue Jays made a controversial choice that left fans buzzing: they intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the ninth inning. The move went against what most baseball experts would have done, and it caused a lot of talk in the MLB community and made people wonder about the Blue Jays’ late-game plans.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider chose not to use Ohtani when the game was on the line and the Los Angeles Angels were about to take the lead. This is something that doesn’t happen very often in high-pressure situations. The Blue Jays made the decision based on matchup strategy: they thought the next batter, who was left-handed, was a bigger threat than Ohtani in that situation. The Blue Jays put a force play at every base by walking Ohtani, which put the pressure on the next hitter.
Even though it was a calculated risk, the move didn’t work out. The next batter hit a walk-off hit, which gave the Angels the win and shocked Blue Jays fans. Since then, analysts have looked at the decision and weighed the pros and cons of intentionally walking one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters at such a crucial time.
This event shows how hard it is for managers to make decisions in the last few innings of close games. The Blue Jays’ plan was based on statistics and logic about how the teams matched up, but it also shows how unpredictable baseball is, where even the best-planned moves can go wrong.
