Visitor: Kansas City Royals

Home: Toronto Blue Jays

Date: October 16, 1985

ALCS Game 7

Scoring:

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

KC 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 6 8 0

TOR 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 8 1

Visitor playmakers:

C Jim Sundberg, RF Pat Sheridan, 2B Frank White

Home playmakers:

Upshaw

Network: NBC

Announcers: Bob Costas, Tony Kubek

Pregame:

Postgame:

Commercials:

Grade:

Notes: Earlier the same day, Jack Clark had put the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series with a three-run blast off the Dodgers' Tom Niedenfuer. Their opponent would be the winner of this Game 7, promising an intriguing match-up for the World Championship: either an I-70 Series between Missouri's two major league teams, or the first- ever entry by a team from outside the United States. The Blue Jays sent Dave Stieb to the mound for the third time in the series, as he had won both his previous starts. The Royals countered with Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen, who had been injured in Game 3.

The Royals had scored first in every game except Game 1. This trend continued when Pat Sheridan reached on a bunt, went to second on fielder's choice by Balboni, and scored on a single by Jim Sundberg. In the bottom of the third, the Blue Jays again hit Saberhagen with a batted ball, this one so hard that Mulliniks wound up at second. After Saberhagen retired the side, Leibrandt took over for him.

In the fourth, Sheridan scored both his and the Royals' second run on a homer. The Blue Jays cut the lead in half when Garcia singled and scored on Upshaw's double in the bottom of the fifth. With the score 2-1, the Royals came to bat in the sixth against a weakening Stieb. After getting Wilson to fly out, Stieb walked Brett and hit McRae with a pitch. Sheridan subsequently hit into a fielder's choice that forced Brett at third, putting runners at first and second with two outs. Stieb then walked Balboni to face the presumably lesser threat, Jim Sundberg. Sundberg drilled a high drive toward the outfield stands that hit the top of the fence and bounced high in the air, landing fair in play next to Jesse Barfield. The runners, running with the pitch, easily scored and Sundberg wound up at third with a three-run triple giving the Royals a 5-1 lead. Jim Acker came in for Stieb and promptly gave up a single to Frank White that scored Sundberg and made the score, 6-1.

Leibrandt cruised until the ninth. With one out, Leibrandt gave up a single to Barfield and a double to Fernandez. For the third time in the series, Quisenberry came on to close it out. Unlike his prior two attempts, he was successful, only allowing one run that scored on a ground out. The Royals prevailed, 6-2, and became the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the LCS. George Brett, who went eight for 23 with two doubles, three homers, seven RBIs, seven walks, and a .348 batting average was the MVP of the series. Brett, in fact, had a role in half of Kansas City's total of 26 runs, scoring six and driving in seven.

Thanks Paul!

Running time: 2:41 (2 discs)