Due to the length of the ALCS post, it has been divided into two sections, with the first being published today and the conclusion to be labelled Part 6 and published early next week.
Part 5: The ALCS
(Games 1-3)
The 1985 American League
Championship Series got underway on a Tuesday night. The Toronto Blue Jays
would be facing the Kansas City Royals, champions of the American League’s West
Division, for the right to represent the A.L. in the World Series. From 1969
(when the LCS was introduced) through 1984, the LCS was a best three-of-five
matchup. For the first time, starting in 1985, it would become a best
four-of-seven. This would prove very significant as the series went on.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving
(Canada celebrates the holiday usually the second Monday in October) was an
important date growing up in Norfolk County, Ontario. It was the first day of
the County Fair, which has been held in the town of Simcoe since 1840. All kids
in the county’s school system are given the day off so they can attend the
fair. Since my dad worked on the day shift in a factory, my brothers and I had
to wait until he was done work before we could go to the fair.
We were in one of the display arenas
at the fair when I saw a TV that was tuned into NBC and the pre-game show. The
Jays starting line-up was being introduced. I immediately forgot about the fair
and was focused on the next step of the Jays’ championship run.
There was a little broadcasting controversy
that happened before the first game that upset many Toronto fans. NBC colour
commentator, Tony Kubek, who had provided colour for the Blue Jays on their
regular season games shown on the CTV network, predicted it would be the Royals
who would win the series. Toronto fans and media alike thought that Kubek
should have picked Toronto due to the fact he had worked with the team all
year.
Game 1 was held in Toronto’s
Exhibition Stadium. The Jays would be sending their ace pitcher, Dave Stieb, to
the mound to face the play-off battle-hardened Kansas City Royals. This was the
Royals’ sixth division crown since 1976 (a seventh trip to the playoffs
occurred in 1981 during the first-ever division series necessitated by the
players’ strike) but so far had been unsuccessful in their bid for the World
Series championship. They had been swept in the 1984 ALCS by the Detroit
Tigers. The team was led by the bats of third baseman George Brett, second
baseman Frank White and outfielders Willie Wilson and Lonnie Smith. The
pitchers were led by 21-year old Bret Saberhagen, Bud Black and All-star closer
Dan Quisenberry.
Stieb pitched eight innings of
shutout ball as Toronto took the first game of the series 6-1. The Royals
managed to push across their only run of the game in the ninth off closer Tom
Henke. The Jays scored two runs in the second thanks to RBI singles by Ernie
Whitt and Tony Fernandez, then added three more in the third on a single by
Rance Mulliniks, a bases-loaded walk to Whitt and a Fernandez sacrifice fly.
The sixth run came on an RBI ground out by Cliff Johnson in the fourth.
It was a great first effort in
the team’s first playoff game and raised the level of expectations going
forward. Game two would only heighten that.
Game 2 was an afternoon game
next day. Mrs Abby, my fourth grade teacher, dismissed the class that day by
telling us the Royals didn’t score in the top of the first and the Jays were
coming to bat. Now I would have to sit through the long bus ride home,
wondering what was going on in the game.
By the time I got home and
turned on the TV, the Royals were up 3-0. Jimmy Key had started the game for
Toronto and had given up a two-run homerun to Wilson in the third and an RBI
double to Kansas City catcher Jim Sundberg in the fourth.
The comeback started in the
bottom of the fourth. After left fielder George Bell reached base on an error,
Cliff Johnson double him home to make the score 3-1. Two innings later, a
single by right fielder Jesse Barfield would score Bell and pinch runner Lou
Thornton to tie the game at three. In the bottom of the eighth, the Jays would
take a 4-3 lead after centre fielder Lloyd Moseby singled, stole second, went
to third on a throwing error and scored on Bell’s sacrifice fly.
Henke came in to close the game
in the ninth. This was his first save opportunity since he surrendered the
game-tying home run to the Yankees in the first of the three games on the final
weekend of the regular season. Pinch
hitter Pat Sheridan, the Royals first hitter of the inning, smacked a Henke
pitch over the right field wall to tie the game at four. Neither team pushed
across another run in the ninth, so the ALCS Game 2 was going to extra innings.
A controversial single by Willie
Wilson (replays seemed to show Lloyd Moseby catching the ball before it hit the
turf) started the tenth inning. Wilson would later score on a single by Frank
White, putting the Royals ahead 5-4.
In the bottom of the tenth, with
closer Quisenberry now pitching for the Royals, Fernandez led off with a single
and was moved to second on a ground out. Moseby singled, scoring Fernandez to
tie the game. An error on a failed pick-off attempt moved Moseby to second and
DH Al Oliver singled to left to bring home Moseby and give the Jays a 6-5 win
and a two games to none lead in the series as the two teams shifted their
battle to Kansas City for the next three games.
Game 3 was the George Brett show
as this time it was the Royals turn to come back. The Jays led 5-2 after a
five-run fifth powered by two two-run home runs (Barfield and Mulliniks.)
Sundberg hit a solo shot off of Toronto starter Doyle Alexander in the bottom
of the fifth, and Brett, who had already homered in the first inning, hit a
two-run shot to tie the game at five. The Royals’ super star then led off the
eight with a single and eventually scored on first baseman Steve Balboni’s
single to give the Royals a 6-5 lead. Royals relief pitcher Steve Farr retired
the Toronto batters in order in the top of the ninth and Kansas City won their
first game of the series. Toronto now led two games to one.
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