Despite the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays dropping all four home games in their ALDS, John McDonald believes there is great value in having home-field advantage for the deciding game of a series.
Appearing on Dean Blundell & Co. Tuesday morning, the former Blue Jays infielder explained his rationale.
“If (the) Jays get out to a lead, home-field advantage will be huge,” McDonald told hosts Dean Blundell and George Rusic on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “Getting out to a lead really helps…There’s definitely momentum in baseball. You saw (Josh) Donaldson’s home run (Monday) and what it does. It helps everyone settle in.”
McDonald, who worked as a special assistant to the player development and scouting department of the Cleveland Indians in 2015, admitted he was a bit surprised when the Blue Jays turned to David Price to replace R.A. Dickey in the fifth inning of Game 4, but understands the logic of manager John Gibbons’ decision.
“He had a plan going into the game,” said McDonald. “I’m sure (Gibbons), (pitching coach) Pete Walker, and Alex (Anthopoulos) to an extent, their consensus was ‘we got to win today’ and we’ll do what will give us our best chances. ‘Are we going to use our bullpen piece by piece or just get (David) Price in there and slam the door so we can win Game 5 at home?’”
You can listen to the entire interview here.