BOSTON -- By numbers alone, the 268th pitch in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series wasn't particularly noteworthy. It left Nathan Eovaldi's hand at 80.4 mph and descended more than 4 feet on the way to Christian Vazquez's glove. It spun at less than half the rate of Eovaldi's average curveball. It didn't move much side to side. Had he thrown it at any other point in the game, to any other batter, in any other situation, it would've been just another pitch.
In an alternate universe, or at least one that follows the rulebook strike zone, the pitch was a strike, a strike would have ended the ninth inning and allowed the Boston Red Sox, owners of two walk-off hits this postseason, the opportunity to mint a third.