“One of the most famous errors in Toronto sports history” - Fans fire at Blue Jays manager for controversial Brendon Little call in pivotal game

Fans called out Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider after he trusted Brendon Little to retain the 2-1 lead in the eighth inning of the ALCS Game 5 against the Seattle Mariners. However, Little first allowed a game-tying home run to Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.

Little then walked Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor before Schneider finally pulled the plug on Little. Seranthony Dominguez entered the game and loaded the bases by hitting Randy Arozarena. Eugenio Suaren then hit a grand slam to turn the game around and give the Mariners a 6-2 lead, which eventually won the game.

After the game, a stat was shared by Sportsnet, saying that Little had posted a 6.08 ERA and 1.88 WHIP over his last 21 appearances.

Once the netizens learned about this stat, they took a dig at Schneider for trusting a poor-performing pitcher in the most important moment of the series.

"John Schneider just made one of the most famous errors in Toronto sports history. One that is extremely hard to come back from," one fan wrote. "Watching him drop sinker after sinker into the dirt is PAINFUL," another fan commented. "There’s only one way to explain that Brendon Little was used this game. His father’s name might be Paul Marner," one fan added.

Reactions continued along these lines as fans pointed out the error of using Little in a clutch situation.

"Yet they go to him in the bottom of the 8th when the Mariners are down by 1 run and the series is tied 2-2 and Raleigh is coming up to the plate…that’s when they put Brandon Little in. What has he done to earn that spot? Nothing," one fan said. "Can you directly put the pitching stats up on the screen in Roger centre when you see someone warming up? Then we can chant “not that guy!” one fan wrote. "But has blackmail on Schneider apparently," one fan wrote.

Brendon Little's post-game admission of doing "terrible" job

After the game, Blue Jays reliever Brendon Little faced reporters, where he expressed disappointment in the way he pitched after John Schneider entrusted him to pitch a clean inning and keep the 2-1 lead intact.

"Yeah, I mean, obviously, it feels terrible," Little said. "The team battled all game to put us in a position to win and I came in and really couldn’t have pitched worse. I wanted to go away, wanted to try to establish away to Raleigh, just missed on the first one, and then really wanted to establish that sinker away, but ended up leaving the one that he hit out. "So, a little too much over the plate, and from there, I just struggled and ended up putting Sir in a bad spot. So yeah, obviously it feels terrible."

With the loss, the Blue Jays face elimination in Game 6 as they need to win it and force Game 7 back in Toronto.

Edited by Krutik Jain