LOS ANGELES — I did something on Wednesday that I’ve never done before: I changed my pick. On CBS Sports HQ at noon ET, I said the Dodgers would win Game 5 of the World Series. Six hours later, back on CBS Sports HQ from Dodger Stadium, I said that I changed my mind and was taking the Blue Jays. After the hit, a colleague asked me who I thought would win the series. And I said I think the Blue Jays. Before the series started, I predicted he Dodgers would win in five.
Now, after a 6-1 Blue Jays win in Game 5, I’m convinced on the Blue Jays. They’ve got this series.
There’s just been a total vibe shift for me and much of it is based on the fortitude the Blue Jays continue to display. There’s a feeling in the clubhouse that’s almost palpable. Sure, every team that has ever been in the World Series has said similar things and every team that gets here believes they are going to win it. But there’s a feel that is difficult to describe. This Blue Jays team feels like they simply will not be denied.
There’s been plenty of adversity, but they respond every single time.
If they haven’t lost this series yet, they just aren’t going to lose it.
They lost one of their best hitters, George Springer, to injury; he hasn’t played since leaving Game 3 early. They are using a guy who didn’t return from Tommy John surgery until August in the rotation alongside a rookie who only made three MLB starts before the playoffs. They have a patchwork bullpen. There’s a 31-year-old rookie in Nathan Lukes, who spent 10 years in the minors. Bo Bichette is playing injured. Their big offseason addition, Anthony Santander, was a relative bust in the regular season and is now injured and out. They lost the first two games of the ALCS at home and still won the series. They fell behind 2-1 in the World Series after a heartbreaking, 18-inning Game 3 loss. Now, they have a 3-2 lead. And they are going back home, where they were 54-27 this season. Including the playoffs, that home record jumps to 59-30, the best mark in all of baseball.
“I can’t wait to see what the Rogers Centre is going to look, feel, and sound like,” manager John Schneider said after Game 5.
They’ve been on a mission since late May. After a loss on May 27, they were 26-28. They went 68-40 the rest of the way, clinching their first AL East title since 2015.
“This is what we do. This is what we’ve been doing for the last four months of the year,” Max Scherzer said Wednesday. “Once we got going in mid-May, June, when this clubhouse clicked, everybody in here knew what was up. Then we started playing a different brand of ball. We leveled up.”
The aforementioned rookie, 22-year-old Trey Yesavage, completely dominated the Dodgers’ offense in Game 5. He was breathtaking and served as the star of the show in Game 5. He was heavy with his excellent slider and, as usual, used the splitter as his out pitch. He got 10 swings on the splitter, including seven whiffs. In all, he struck out 12 Dodgers, breaking the rookie record in a World Series game — coincidentally, it was Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe who previously had the record (1949 Game 1).
“The best part about it was that he wasn’t any different than a game in September,” Chris Bassitt said. “He’s just complete, composed and the moment’s not too big for him, which is crazy for how young he is… Some guys are just built different and he’s built different. To walk in with that kind of confidence and come into this place, it’s like, damn.”
“That first game [Yesavage pitched], you could just see, this is different,” Scherzer said. “He can go up against anybody right now.”
Yesavage only allowed three hits in Game 5; two of them were infield singles. He had never before thrown a pitch in the seventh inning in a start, not even in the minors. He completed seven innings in this one. It was masterful.
“The maturity he’s shown to handle these moments is really impressive,” Bo Bichette said.
How about Davis Schneider? He had only started four playoff games so far out of 15 Blue Jays postseason games. He hadn’t hit leadoff. He was thrown into the spot, in part due to the Springer injury. He homered on the first pitch of the game from two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell. It’s just a next-man-up mentality with this team. Clement and Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho and Andrés Giménez and, well, pretty much everyone. Isiah Kiner-Falefa even had an RBI single in this one.
Of course, there was also the superstar, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., with a home run right after Schneider. It was the first time in history that a team hit back-to-back home runs to start a World Series game. Snell had never given up two first-inning home runs in his career previously, so it was a double dose of history.
It was a special start to the game, followed by a special performance from Yesavage. It’s a special team.
Snell, by the way, was on a monster run of dominance before the World Series. The Blue Jays pounced on him twice this series. He’s given up 10 runs on 14 hits in 11 ⅔ innings. That’s a 7.71 ERA. In his previous three playoff starts, he had an 0.86 ERA.
The Jays just can’t be stopped. The team that led the majors in batting average during the regular season that can also hit for power is relentless, even short a few guys due to injury. It was on display in both Games 4 and 5. They’ll club big home runs but also string hits together and make you pay for your mistakes.
Take the third run. The Dodgers had just cut the lead to 2-1. Daulton Varsho sent a shot down the right field line. It was clearly a hit, but Teoscar Hernández misplayed it into a triple. Varsho then scored immediately on a sac fly. They just find ways to punish their opponents. Again and again. A single and a walk both came around to score in the seventh inning, pushing the lead to 5-1. A wild pitch contributed to a run in the eighth. They’ve also hit 27 home runs in 16 postseason games. They just attack from every angle.
To reiterate, yes, every single World Series team should believe in themselves, but there is an air about these Jays. Just look at the other dugout. Did the Dodgers look like a hungry team fighting for its life in Game 5 or did they appear lifeless? Some of that is the dominant pitching from Yesavage, but the Dodgers made plenty of mistakes on the pitching and defense side of things.
Look, the Dodgers could very well still win this series by bouncing back and looking like the elite version of themselves. They could win two games in Toronto. Would anyone be shocked? The Blue Jays are ready.
“We’ve been in situations where you know the series can change,” Scherzer said. “We just gotta take care of business. We’ve gotta go 1-0, take it one game at a time and play the game we always play.”
“That’s an amazing team and they’re defending champs,” Bichette said of the Dodgers. “They’re gonna come out and fight, so we need to be ready.”
I just don’t think a Dodgers comeback will happen. I think the Blue Jays have this series. They are in control right now and just need to win one game in two chances at home.
It won’t take two. Blue Jays in six. I was wrong before the series, but I’m tired of being wrong about this group of uncommon men. They will soon be crowned World Series champions.