The Walk off

If a screenwriter had penned it, you might think it was too predicable, too cliché. The all- star third baseman, in the midst of a MVP- calibre season, hits a walkoff homer in the final home gawme of the regular season, the day after the first playoff berth had been secured in 22 years. In baseball, with its cruel twists of fate, and in Toronto, this sports sucker of a town, it is sometimes refreshing when the hero simply saves the day.

The MV P chants had become the regular soundtrack of his at-bats at the Rogers Centre and this day, Sept. 27, was no different. Having clawed back to tie the game 4-4 against the Tampa Bay Rays, the mood was electric inside the sold- out stadium. The elusive post- season spot had already clinched, but the division title was still up for the taking so there were stakes. The players had doused each other in various alcohols hours earlier, and perhaps a few were not at their best. Cue Donaldson. With two out and none on in the bottom of the ninth, Donaldson took a 0-1 pitch and drilled the ball into the left-field stands. Naturally, the crowd went wild as Donaldson rounded the bases, his teammates waiting at home plate for the customary mosh pit celebration. This final act was his third walkoff homer of the season, a new franchise record. He hit 41 home runs during the regular season and 27 of those either tied the game or lifted his team in front, but few felt as narratively fitting as that one. As John Gibbons told reporters after the game, “He’s got that flair for the dramatic.”

It was a homer worthy of Hollywood and for Toronto, and Donaldson, it was the “perfect ending,” as Gibbons put it, to a storybook season. —