How the Los Angeles Dodgers reached their third World Series in six years
USA TODAY Sports’ Gabe Lacques explains how the Dodgers dominated the Brewers on their way to another World Series appearance.
Sports Pulse
TORONTO — Game 7 never gets old. It will also never fail to humble even the greatest players to grace the October stage.
Max Scherzer is about to start his 11th yeare winner-take-all game in his storied Major League career, and in the moments after his Toronto Blue Jays kept their season alive with a 6-2 win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, his mental record book was buzzing, taking him back to his playoff debut as a 26-year-old through the two World Series championships won in the past six years.
“God, one more,” Scherzer says, stomping a little and shaking his head as he is wont to do. “I just walk around and go through all my Game 7s, my Game 5s, elimination games, the last day, all these moments and you remember them all.
“To get another one? My god. These are just so special, so hard to get to, that to start doing them again – this is what you live for.”
Scherzer kept private what he plans to tell his friends, but it will be the experience that comes from seven Division Series Game 5s, one wild card game, an ALCS Game 7 and of course Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, when Scherzer started the clincher for the Washington Nationals two days after being scratched from the start due to a debilitating neck disease.
And that’s exactly the kind of sacrifice the Mariners and Blue Jays up and down expect in what should be a titillating night of baseball at Rogers Center.
Let’s take a look at the latest episode of baseball’s ultimate win-or-go-home drama:
Who is available? Everyone
In the hours between the Blue Jays’ crushing Game 5 loss to Seattle and their Game 6 revival, closer Jeff Hoffman sat with his wife to talk about what to expect from him over the next two nights.
“We talked about the potential of me throwing multiple innings today, or maybe tomorrow, or maybe both. Who knows what that would take?” says Hoffman, who actually pitched two near-perfect innings in Game 6, striking out four of the seven batters he faced.
“She asked me, ‘Are you good at that?’ And it’s like there’s no choice. You’re good to do it. If the team expects that from you, you go out there and worry about tomorrow the next day.”
With that in mind, both clubs are in good form. The Blue Jays did burn Hoffman for two innings and set-up man Louis Varland for four outs, but stayed away from fireball against Seranthony Dominguez, who should be available for an extended period in Game 7.
The Mariners used ace Matt Brash for one inning and Eduard Bazardo for two. But left-hander Gabe Speier got a much-needed night off and closer Andres Muñoz did not pitch. He will almost certainly be called upon for multiple innings if the Mariners have a late lead or – for example! – the game lasts extra innings.
Bottom line: Relievers are already built to throw until their arms come loose – and both units are in good condition.
All hands on deck
There’s nothing that makes the heart soar in an elimination game than a starter warming up in the bullpen. And both Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber and Mariners counterpart George Kirby will have a troika of veterans behind them.
Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo will all be available behind Kirby, who gave up eight points in his Game 3 start.
As for the Blue Jays, Scherzer, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt are all available to provide length if Bieber hits the wall early. Or to extinguish a fire if necessary.
“If you love postseason baseball, this is what it’s all about,” Gausman said. “Maybe you’ll see Max Scherzer in the fifth inning. Maybe you’ll see me later in the game. This is pretty much what it is.”
“As players this is what we want. We have all been grinding since February 1ststeven before that, so now that we win one game, we’re going to the World Series.”
Management mentalities
Game 6 was a balm for Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose decision to use inconsistent left-hander Brendon Little in Game 5 blew up and put his club in a win-or-go-home stance.
Now the mental edge may have shifted, with the Blue Jays already looking at their mortality.
Heck, Schneider himself sounds like a guy who just got a stay of execution.
“It’s pretty cool that we are where we are. I’m not going to lie,” he said after Game 6. “You’ve got to keep your foot on the accelerator and get ready for tomorrow.
We sign up for this. When you can play for Game 7 to get to the World Series, it sounds pretty cool to say it, you know. But this is why we sacrifice everything. That’s why players sacrifice everything.
“This team, this group of guys, is special. You never know where the journey will lead. It will lead to a Game 7 in the ALCS and that’s pretty damn awesome.
“Again, man, when spring training starts and you say, hey, you’ve got to win one game to get to the World Series, you’re going to take it every time.”
For the record, that’s two ‘frickins’ and one ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’ each.
What about you, Seattle manager Dan Wilson?
“So tomorrow we’ll make our adjustments offensively, and then we’ll be ready for Game 7,” he said after a night when the club grounded into double plays in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
“I mean, this is the time to make those adjustments and baseball is a game of adjustments, and they’ll be able to do that tomorrow night and be ready to go.”
Vibe check? Advantage, Blue Jays.
Heavy history
Both clubs were born in 1977. Yet the Mariners have never played in a Game 7.
Toronto has a more storied history, with back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and ’93. Still, it’s been 40 years since they played a Game 7, when they lost a 3-1 lead to the Kansas City Royals in the 1985 ALCS.
The ALCS has been an unfriendly hurdle for both clubs over the past quarter century. Toronto lost in six games to Kansas City in 2015 and five games to Cleveland in 2016, while Seattle succumbed to the New York Yankees in 2000 and 2001.
They had never been one game away from a World Series in their history, until Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam clinched Game 5 for them. They are still waiting and now have to battle what could be an evenly matched and excruciating Game 7 for both teams.
