It's been four months since the Toronto Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in painful fashion. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had a chance to score the winning run with the game tied at four runs apiece, had a lousy lead at third base and ran on contact. IKF was thrown out at home by second baseman Miguel Rojas, with many Blue Jays fans questioning his technique in the months since.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kiner-Falefa finally addressed those concerns. IKF signed with the Boston Red Sox this winter, where he'll have a prominent role coming off the bench. Kiner-Falefa sounded surprised by the line of questioning, as well as the virality of his lead in the aftermath of Game 7, all the while trying to cozy up to his new Boston following.
What Isiah Kiner-Falefa said about his lead in Game 7
“Off the bat I was trying to break up the double play,” Kiner-Falefa said, per The Athletic. “In my mind, I thought it was a routine ground ball at second and they were going to go home to (first base). So I went in hard to slide, that was my intention.”
With Ernie Clement on deck, Kiner-Falefa's goal was to break up the double play and give one of the Blue Jays hottest hitters a chance to win the game in his own right.
“My initial read was to just go and slide and try to break it up,” he said. “I didn’t really see the trip (by Dodgers’ second baseman Miguel Rojas) and all the little things, but from my instinct, from where I was, I was initially just thinking, break up that double play right there and get our best, hottest hitter up at the time. It almost paid off...I’m ready to flip the page.”
That last sentence – that IKF would prefer not to discuss his final out as a Blue Jay but instead focus on his new challenge in Boston – is one that will surely not sit well in Toronto. Kiner-Falefa may be able to overlook one bad mental error, but for Blue Jays fans, it was the difference between their first World Series in over three decades, and becoming just another Dodgers victim.
Kiner-Falefa blamed Blue Jays coaches and the media for mixed signals
To make matters worse, Kiner-Falefa took aim at the Blue Jays coaches and organization as a whole, suggesting that they were the reason he didn't have a greater lead at third base.
“If I could do it over, I definitely would have gotten a couple of steps out,” IKF said. “But you have to do what the organization wants and that’s kind of been the thing there, with runners in that situation, they would always keep the runner close.”
In this sense, Kiner-Falefa is right. He cannot take a larger lead than is granted to him by the opposing pitching staff. Also, as a pinch-runner, IKF was given strict instructions by the coaching staff. Had he been picked off at third, he never would've heard the end of it. As it turns out, he took too few steps.
IKF at contact on that Varsho play.
— Jake Mintz (@Jake_Mintz) November 2, 2025
Inexcusable lack of secondary lead. Over-emphasis on avoiding a line drive double play. IKF can basically be as far away from third as Muncy is.
He has at least two more steps.
Only needed one. pic.twitter.com/W5GUixZvSu
As for the reason Kiner-Falefa hadn't addressed his lead until Wednesday, he also refused to take the blame on that account as well.
“My biggest regret was that there were no cameras in my face after the game, that was the toughest thing for me,” Kiner-Falefa continued. “If it was going to be such a big deal, it would have been nice to have the camera in my face and have a chance to speak. But it blew up without me getting a proper interview, so I thought that was unfair. Everybody is just going off of it without me really being able to talk about the play.”
Isiah Kiner-Falefa's excuses are convenient, but lack context
When the Blue Jays had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, their estimated win percentage was 82 percent, per MLB.com. Kiner-Falefa, a pinch runner, would've been the winning run. The Dodgers played their infield in, which should've been a tell-tale sign for IKF to take an extra step or two towards home plate given Max Muncy couldn't have possibly beat him back to the bag. Despite what Kiner-Falefa claims, most of the time that sort of decision is up to the player unless the coaching staff steps in and says otherwise. I certainly didn't see the third-base coach motion to IKF.
As for the aftermath, this story took on a life of its own after the game due to the magnitude of the moment. It's Game 7 of the World Series, not a regular-season matchup. What else did Kiner-Falefa expect? Had he wanted to say something, anything, to Blue Jays fans after the game, there were plenty of media members in that clubhouse.
Kiner-Falefa spends his offseasons in Hawaii. Had he wanted to get a message across once the story went viral, he could've done so. IKF is an MLB player. As a result, he has a large following, and you can be the mass media would've picked up any explanation he gave. Instead, he sat on his hands and waited until spring training.
Accountability would go a long way in repairing IKF's relationship with Toronto. He ought to try it.