In the world of baseball, Buck Showalter, a veteran manager, expressed that Game 6 of the World Series should never have seen moments like the ninth inning on Friday when Addison Berger’s ball took an unexpected turn and ended up under the left-field wall.
This led Dodgers outfielder Justin Dean to signal that the ball was unplayable. The umpire went along with it, ruling it a ground-rule double.
Consequently, first baseman Myles Straw moved to third without attempting to score, leaving the Blue Jays with a chance to close the gap to 3-2 against the Dodgers at Rogers Center.
“We have a multibillion-dollar industry, so why can’t we have the areas where things are converging?” Is it impossible to go all the way to the bottom? Buck Showalter can’t believe a wedge-trapped ball might determine the World Series. pic.twitter.com/caU4mdovEv
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) November 1, 2025
Showalter, who last managed the Mets in 2023, felt that if the ball hadn’t gotten wedged, the outcome could have been quite different.
“The Dodgers might take the World Series because of the ball being stuck,” he said during a postgame segment on “Foul Territory.” “With a multi-billion-dollar industry, is fixing such issues too much to ask? If that ball hadn’t gone there, we might have seen a tied game.”
Showalter also commented that for concerts or other events at Rogers Center or similar venues, replacing the pads might be necessary to prevent such incidents.
It seemed frustrating to him that something like this occurred during such a crucial moment on the biggest stage in sports. “Well, this shouldn’t be part of the game,” he reflected.
In contrast, Toronto infielder Isaiah Kiner-Falefa noted from the dugout that it didn’t seem like the ball hit the wall at all. “He was lucky they ruled it that way. In tennis, the ball stays still. This one was moving. He got the call, but I’m not sure he earned it,” he mentioned, according to the Toronto Sun.
After the umpires decided that Straw had to stay on third and Berger had to remain at second, the Blue Jays’ chance for a comeback ended as Quique Hernandez caught a high fly from Andres Jimenez, completing a double play that eliminated Berger and sealed the game.
Thus, Saturday’s Game 7 will now be a do-or-die match, featuring Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers against Max Scherzer of the Blue Jays.
