Blue Jays will go the distance as Dodgers force Game 7

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To get this close to the peak, so close that a city, a country and a packed and pumping downtown Toronto stadium was craving for a party, nothing has come easily for the hard-working Blue Jays.

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So would you really have expected anything less than what happened on Friday and what awaits the following night?

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What has turned out to be a magnificent World Series will go the distance between the last-to-first Jays and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

After the National League champs rode a clutch three-run third inning, then hung on for dear life to survive the ninth for a 3-1 win, Game 7 and all its sporting splendour is now officially a date at the Rogers Centre for Saturday night.

And who doesn’t want to see that? The Blue Jays, the plucky, defy-the-odds team that has thrilled a fan base, is all in with the opportunity, even after a wild and in some eyes, controversial ending to Game 6, one in which some horrible luck and terrible base-running squashed the opportunity to tie it up.

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“This is what you play for, what you live for, Game 7, World Series,” said Jays outfielder Davis Schneider. “It’s what you do in the backyard as a kid and we get to do it tomorrow night.”

They get to do it in front of what promises to be an electric crowd even more off the hook than the one here on Friday.

Nervous and pressure-packed, sure, but fitting that what has been an at-times remarkable and almost always resilient season for the Jays will come down to such a high-wire showdown to claim their third World Series title and first in 32 years.

“These guys are going to be ready for it,” Jays manager John Schneider said, still reeling from a wild ninth inning ending but confident in his team. “Hopefully they get to slow some things down but enjoy it.

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“It’s Game 7 of the World Series at your home stadium. I mean, what the hell else do you want?

“See you tomorrow. It’s going to be electric in here.”

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Given all they’ve overcome this season, there’s little to suggest that the Jays aren’t up to the task, of course.

They bounced back from that 74-win season a year ago with renewed commitment and drive and the deeper they went in the season, the more confidence they employed.

They overcame injuries.

They needed a final week surge to lock up first place in the division, a burst that also secured them home field for Saturday’s Game 7.

And in the ALCS against the Mariners, the Jays came back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to prevail in another showdown that went the distance.

Now they’ll have to bounce back from the bizarre ending to Game 6, after a would be run-scoring hit by Addison Barger was lodged between the ground and the base of the centre-field wall.

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Here in the Fall Classic, it has been a whirlwind best-of-seven series that already has delivered so much. After splitting the first two in Toronto, the Dodgers got the upper hand by outlasting the Jays through an epic, historic 18-inning game that had to have felt like a sledgehammer blow to the Jays.

Instead, they won the next two to return to Canada with a 3-2 series lead and needing to win just one of Game 6 or 7 to triumph.

So bring on Game 7, then, and all that goes with it. A Blue Jays team that fought in so many ways just to get here isn’t likely to back down now.

“Adversity is what we’re kind of made of,” Jays outfielder Schneider said. “And we have the guys to do it. We have no nerves or anything, we’re just kind of built for it.”

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Our takeaways from a Game 6 that came up just short for the home side:

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DID UMPS GET IT RIGHT?

It was a bottom of the ninth that will be talked about at length going forward, especially if the Jays don’t rally for a Game 7 win.

First, we rewind. With pinch-runner Myles Straw on base, Addison Barger rips a line drive into left centre, carrying all the way to the wall. Straw and Barger race all the way around the bases crossing the plate for what most in the stadium felt was a game-tying play.

Wrong.

The ball had at least briefly lodged in a gap between the wall and the turf causing two Dodgers outfielders to give up on the play, including centre fielder Justin Dean, who stopped running and put his arms in the air as if to signal a dead ball. Both Dean and Enrique Hernandez just stared at the ball as the two Jays circled the bases with the crowd of 44,710 going crazy.

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The umpires ruled that the lodged ball reduced the Barger hit to a double, moving Straw back to third. John Schneider called for a review and it was denied.

Was the call correct? By rule, if the ball halts the trajectory and if it is lodged even temporarily, it doesn’t matter how accessible it was to the fielders. And once that ruling is established, an automatic double is the ruling.

THE SCENE

After three games in SoCal, the return to Toronto certainly lit up the city and the Rogers Centre, a sellout crowd buzzing early in anticipation.

They were fired up over starter Kevin Gausman striking out the side in the first.

They could sense something magic happening with a pair of runners on and one out in the eighth and Bo Bichette coming to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.

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And they seemed to delight with everything attached to a potential championship clinching team in their home stadium.

All season the Jays have defied the odds and repeatedly. And now they’ll attempt to do it in a Saturday night, one-game showdown with a storied franchise looking to repeat.

“I expect (his Jays teammates) to come out swinging and use the energy in the building to our advantage,” Friday’s starter, Kevin Gausman said. “Today was incredible and it’s probably gonna be even crazier tomorrow.

“So comfort in knowing that, but the job’s not done. But George (Springer) said it best: If anyone told us in spring training we’d be playing Game 7 for the World Series, we’d take that without even thinking.”

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STUCK WITH IT?

Adding pain to the controversial finish for the Jays was the fact that Barger got doubled off at second to end it, an untimely bit of suspect work on the basepaths.

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Some reaction on the lodged ball here:

Manager John Schneider: “Been here a long time. I haven’t seen a ball get lodged ever. Just caught a tough break there.” The manager stopped short of claiming foul, however. “Just caught a tough break there.” 

Centre fielder Daulton Varsho, who knows the Rogers Centre walls better than anyone: “That’s probably the only spot that it possibly could have gotten stuck. It you look at the cracks (by the wall) it seems physically impossible. It’s just one of those plays where it’s kind of crazy.”

Dodgers catcher Will Smith on Barger getting caught with the game-ending out after Andres Gimenez hit a line-drive rocket to Hernandez: “Barger probably got a little giddy and wanted to score a tying run.”

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After the game, Barger didn’t protest that view: “It was a bad read.” And then: “I was surprised (Hernandez) got to it.”

John Schneider on the Barger pick off: “Wild, wild way to finish it, that’s for sure.”

And finally: According to Elias, it was the first game-ending double play in World Series history in which an outfielder had a putout or an assist. And for the Jays, George Springer waiting in the on-deck circle.

WHAT TO DO WITH OHTANI?

Pitch to the Japanese superstar and you risk having it blow up in your face. Intentionally walk him and he’s still dangerous.

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The Jays learned that the hard way in the third with two out and Tommy Edman on second, Schneider put up the four fingers for the automatic pass and a double from the next hitter, Will Smith, brought across the first run of the game with a hard-hit double. And when the ice-cold Mookie Betts ripped a single, two more runs crossed and the Dodgers had a three-run lead.

It was all tightness from there, though.

The Jays scored once in the bottom half of the third but neither team got a runner across the rest of the night.

Did Schneider do the right thing pitching to Ohtani?  Difficult to fault the manager, even in hindsight.

“If there is an obvious chance, take the bat out of his hands, yeah, we’re going to do it,” the skipper said by way of explanation.  “They have really good hitters up and down their lineup, so you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t sometimes.”

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WHAT ABOUT GAUSMAN?

The Jays had their ace on the mound and Gausman certainly seemed up for the task, especially with his splitter dominating Dodgers hitters in the early going.

The veteran righty struck out the side in the first. He added two more strikeouts in the second, and when he added another to Enrique Hernandez to start the third, that was six of the first seven batters he faced.

Then came the mini Dodgers rally, one which would provide them with all the runs they’d need.

Gausman had the misfortune of dueling against Yamamoto for each of his two World Series starts. After the three runs allowed, he retired the next 10 batters he faced before the Toronto bullpen took over for the seventh.

In fact, the Dodgers had just four hits on the night, following another excellent Jays pitching night.

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Gausman, meanwhile, gave props to Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who kept Jays hitters at bay for a second time in the series.

“I think if it’s anybody else on the mound, I’d feel pretty good about us putting up five, honestly,” Gausman said. “But he’s really good and he’s locked in.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

How about a Game 7 to decide the World Series between the defending champs and a team that finished last in the AL East a season ago.

What a moment, what a stage.

The Jays are already Game 7 tested this October after a 4-3 win here over the Mariners fuelled by a three-run George Springer home run in the seventh inning.

Schneider plans to go with 41-year-old veteran Max Scherzer while prior to Friday’s game, the Dodgers had yet to decide on their starter.

There were strong suggestions, however, that manager Dave Roberts was considering with using Ohtani as an opener. though he wouldn’t confirm as much late Friday.

“It’s a possibility,” Roberts said following the game. “We are not certain, but it’s a possibility.”

As if Game 7 needed any more drama.

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