October 7, 2019

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some news and notes about Canadians in this year’s major league post-season:

- Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.) is supposed to be in the twilight of his MLB career, but the Los Angeles Dodgers back-up catcher enjoyed his best offensive post-season performance on Sunday night. Suiting up in his Canadian record 58th post-season contest, the 36-year-old catcher socked a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning and added a two-run home run in the ninth to help his club to a 10-4 win over the Washington Nationals in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Sunday. Martin’s four RBIs were a post-season high for him, which is remarkable when you consider that this is his 10th trip to the post-season.

- Earlier in the day, PBF Redbirds and Junior National Team alum Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) delivered the best starting pitching performance ever by a Canadian pitcher in the post-season. He allowed just one run on two hits in seven innings in the Atlanta Braves’ 3-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 3 of their National League Division Series. With that, Soroka became just the second Canadian to hurl seven innings in a post-season game. Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Kirk McCaskill (Kapuskasing, Ont.) was the first in 1986 (More information about McCaskill’s start below). At one point during the game, Soroka retired 17 straight battters which, according to Sportsnet Stats, is the most ever by a Canadian in the post-season. Also, David O’Brien of The Athletic noted on Twitter that the 22-year-old Canuck “is just [the] 10th pitcher in MLB postseason history -- and the youngest -- to pitch seven or more innings and allow only two baserunners.”

- Soroka’s performance earned him this congratulatory tweet from 2019 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and former big league pitcher Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC) who pitched for both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox in the post-season during his 16-season major league career.

- For the record, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Kirk McCaskill’s seven-inning start came in Game 2 of the 1986 American League Championship Series. Toeing the rubber for the Angels against the Boston Red Sox, the Kapuskasing, Ont., native allowed six runs (three earned) on 10 hits in seven innings in a 9-2 loss. He also started Game 6 of that series but permitted five runs in 2 1/3 innings. McCaskill also made three relief appearances for the Chicago White Sox against the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1993 American League Championship Series.

- For an excellent glimpse into Ladner, BC native James Paxton’s formative pitching years in his home province and in college, check out this article by Canadian Baseball Network writer Lukas Weese that was published yesterday.

- And for Blue Jays fans out there, it was three years ago today that their club belted four home runs off Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish in a 5-3 win in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Troy Tulowitzki, Kevin Pillar, Ezequiel Carrera and Edwin Encarnacion all went deep off Darvish, while J.A. Happ limited the Rangers to one run in five innings to record the win.