With the Toronto Blue Jays backs against the proverbial wall, they had to come out fighting to stick around in this year's American League Championship Series. Josh Donaldson homered and Edwin Encarnacion delivered a bases-loaded single to score two to force a game five and avoid the sweep, with a 5-1 win.
The Blue Jays still have a long road ahead of them, but they have managed to live to fight another day. Toronto becomes only the fourth team since 1985 to force a game 5 after training in an LCS 3-0.
The Blue Jay hitters have struggled mightily in the series, but Donaldson seemingly put an end to the struggles by hitting a solo bomb off Cleveland Indian ace Corey Kluber in the bottom of the third inning. Donaldson's homer marked the first time the Blue Jays had had the lead in the entire series.
The Blue Jay line-up has been too good all year long to not produce. It was only seemingly a matter of time before we started to see some production from one the most feared lineups in the American league.
"We are capable of doing even more than we did today." Blue Jay's star outfielder Jose Bautista said.
The Jay's must continue to swing the bats as Cleveland still retains a 3-1 lead with two more home games to play. Let's not forget that Cleveland hasn't lost more than three games in a row all season long.
Quite simply put the Blue Jays have to play their best game three times in a row to win the series. Throughout baseball history teams with a 3-1 series lead and home field advantage have won the series 86.4 percent of the time. These odds can seem insurmountable.
After producing with his back against the wall, Josh Donaldson said it best, "It's an uphill battle. We're still down three games to one. It's a must win each and every game."