Padres’ Ty France just relived a Blue Jays World Series nightmare in Milwaukee

Ty France might be one of the unluckiest players over the past two postseasons. During Game One of his San Diego Padres NLDS matchup in Milwaukee, the slugging first baseman was at the plate in a crucial situation.

With one on and one out in the top of the ninth and the Padres trailing the Brewers 3-2, France stepped up to the plate and blasted a ball that should have put the Padres ahead. Everyone in that stadium thought the ball was gone - but Milwaukee's American Family Field had other ideas.

The ball left the bat at 105.3 mph and was headed towards the stands, but it hit the roof and came down into left fielder Jackson Chourio's glove. The umpiring crew came together and ruled that it was indeed an out.

“I haven’t really been able to fully process it,” France told reporters after the game. “But it was a game-changing swing. I guess the biggest question was whether it was going to stay fair or foul. I thought I backspun it and thought it was going to stay fair. Knew it was going out.”

The Padres never managed to overcome that bizarre play and would go on to lose 3-2, dropping Game One of their series. Incredibly though, this wasn't the first time a stadium issue has denied France of a playoff win.

Ty France has his own Addison Barger playoff moment as San Diego drops series opener in Milwaukee

Last year, France was on the bench with the Toronto Blue Jays as they played the LA Dodgers at Rogers Centre. A play during Game Six of that series also prevented France from capturing a World Series ring.

The Blue Jays were a win away from their third title in franchise history and first since Joe Carter's home run in 1993. Fittingly, they had a chance to walk it off in Game Six - the same way they beat the Philadalphia Phillies over three decades ago.

Down 3-1 in the ninth inning, Alejandro Kirk was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Myles Straw came in as a pinch runner. Barger stpeed up to the plate against Roki Sasaki and he scorched a ball to the left centre field gap. Straw came in to score and the Dodgers outfield just stood around and looked at the ball that hit the wall. Barger kept running and came all the way around to score on what should have been an inside-the-park home run.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays the ball was deemed a ground rule double becuase it was stuck under the wall. Whether it was really stuck or not remains up for debate. There's been plenty of plays at Rogers Centre like that over the years where the ball was under the padding but never really "stuck." Chalk it up to a heads up play by Andy Pages I guess.

The Blue Jays still had a really good opportunity to at least tie that game with two men in scoring position and nobody out. But an Ernie Clement pop up and an Andrés Giménez line-out double play ended things and sent the series to Game Seven.

France, who had a tremendous regular season after the Blue Jays decided not to bring him back, played in two of those World Series games. He got three at-bats in the marathon 18-inning Game Three loss for Toronto, and he pinch hit in the Game Four 6-2 win. Last year was France's first time in the postseason during his eight year career. He's now hoping that a stadium mishap isn't the thing that once again stands in his way of getting his first World Series ring.

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