George Springer will likely return to the Toronto Blue Jays' starting lineup for Game 6 of the World Series on Friday night.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Thursday that during extra workouts over the weekend, Springer had “not a lot” of boxes to check before being cleared to play in what could be the deciding game of the Major League Baseball championship. Toronto leads the best-of-seven series against the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2.
“I think I just want to make sure that tomorrow he feels comfortable and confident, not just for one fight, but to go out and compete and get into the game,” Schneider said at the press conference. “He kind of physically checked every box, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
The 36-year-old Springer, who has primarily been the designated hitter this year, was left out of the Blue Jays' lineup for the second straight game on Wednesday, missing Toronto's 6-1 Game 5 win in Los Angeles. He was sore throughout the postseason after being hit by multiple pitches, but left Game 3 with a midsection strain while swinging on the field.
Schneider said he was considering Springer for Game 5 on Wednesday.
“He was right on the edge. I think he probably could do it,” Schneider said. “I was really juggling what's best for him, what's best for the team, not just getting into the game right away, but how that game might play out.
“He was close and ready to go in and I'm glad we didn't need him and gave him an extra couple of days, but hopefully he'll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Springer enjoyed a resurgence in the regular season, hitting .309 with 32 home runs and 84 runs batted in. He was sick throughout the playoffs after getting hit a few times, but is hitting .246 with four homers and nine RBIs this postseason.
Both teams held additional practices this evening at the Rogers Center after returning to Canada early this morning. Schneider was the only member of the Blue Jays to hold a news conference, although pitchers Kevin Gausman and Max Scherzer and outfielder Davis Schneider held light workouts on the field.
John Schneider said the team returned to Toronto around 6:30 a.m., just in time to get caught up in the city's morning rush hour, so he and the rest of the Blue Jays didn't get to Rogers Center until 8 a.m.
“I was hanging here [at the ballpark]. I was waiting for my wife and children. They were about half an hour behind us,” Schneider said. – So, I left my bags. I actually jumped into a cold bath, took a little dip in the cold to perk you up a little.
“It didn't work.”
Ohtani to start in a possible Game 7?
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will consider using Shohei Ohtani as a starter or even an outfielder in Game 7 if Los Angeles pushes the World Series against Toronto to the wire.
The two-way star threw 93 pitches in Wednesday's 6-2 loss in Game 4 and could be available as a reliever this weekend in Toronto.
However, if Ohtani enters the game as a reliever after starting the game as the designated hitter, the Dodgers will lose their DH. He can remain in the game as a DH if he is also the starting pitcher.
“I think we'll look at everything,” Roberts said Thursday, the day before Game 6. “It's more just doing the best we can to get through tomorrow and then picking up the pieces and then seeing how best to attack a potential Game 7. So everything has to be on the table, and it most certainly will be.”
Roberts said he plans to discuss options with Ohtani later Thursday.
Ohtani never pitched in relief during his Major League Baseball career. He made several appearances as a substitute in Japan for the Pacific League's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, mostly as a rookie in 2013. He completed Japan's victory in the final of the 2023 World Baseball Classic against the United States by striking out then-Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout in the final.
Ohtani is batting .250 with eight homers, 14 RBIs and 14 walks in the postseason with a 1.109 on-base percentage plus slugging and is 2-1 on the mound with a 3.50 earned run average and 25 strikeouts in 18 innings.
If Ohtani came in as a reliever after starting as a DH, he would need to play the position to remain in the game after his appearance on the mound ended.
He made seven outings for the Angels in 2021, a year before the rule was changed to allow starting pitchers to remain in games at DH after being removed from the game.
