Beebs needs to step up. Really only Bassitt was lightly used today.

Assuming Springer is out (hopefully only for today?), I'd have Bichette DHing and leading off, shifting  a chunk of the lineup up 1 spot and inserting Schneider as the second baseman batting 7th.

DH    Bichette
LF    Lukes
1B    Guerrero
CF    Varsho
C    Kirk
RF    Barger
2B    Schneider
3B    Clement
SS    Giménez

Psychologically i think we come out of last night really well tbh. LA knows they're in tough this series.

But the uphill battle of being down a game and down springer is a lot to overcome for sure.

Let me get this straight:

Jays need to beat Ohtani with Bieber
Jays need to beat Snell with Yesavage
Jay's need to beat Yamamoto with Gausman or Glasnow with Scherzer/Bieber

Jays need to win these next two games as they likely won't beat Yamamoto down 3 games to 1. They will likely have to face Ohtani on short rest in a game 7. I don't know a lot about Ohtani the pitcher.

If we've got a sadomasicist here who isn't falling asleep at work this morning, why not do a trip down memory lane about the Jays failed pursuit of Freddie Freeman in the 2021-22 offseason? I am not your huckleberry.

Luckily if they face Yamamoto, it won't be 3 to 1. He's pitching game 6 (if necessary)

Yes we have to beat a very good team 3 more times. That's the job description.

Right, you're right. So they would have to beat him down 3-2 or up 3-2. What a big game that was to win for the Dodgers.

Psychologically i think we come out of last night really well tbh. LA knows they're in tough this series. I am at the complete opposite end of this spectrum. 4 er in last 27 innings is the key stat to me.

Eh the dodgers struggled mightily to beat our backups last night. Remember that the dodgers consider themselves the better team. And now they know game 1 was no fluke. Heck we're still outscoring them on the series.

Really felt we would win yesterday and it was absolutely there for the taking after getting to Glasnow early.
I can't see hitting Bo first since he can't run; having him on base ahead of the big boys may not be the best slot for him?
I agree with Schneider at second but clearly it will be IKF for better or for worse.
The boys can do it today but it's going to be very tough vs Ohtani, especially if Springer is out and Kirk isn't right.  This team does love having its back against the wall, so there's hope.

I’d bat Schneider in the lead off spot and keep Bo in the cleanup spot. But I’m not sure Bo is going to go tonight. He didn’t look right on his last run down to first.

Schneider would forfeit the game before he starts Davis over IKF. It’s not happening no matter how much sense it makes. If Springer and Bo both can’t play tonight then it will be France at DH and IKF at 2B.

Game 3 was a must win given the injuries, and unfortunately they couldn’t get it done. It’s going to be tough now with 1 or both of Springer and Bichette either hobbling or not playing.

i'm really wondering about Ohtani - that was a long game for him with lots of baserunning and at one point he was limping out on 2nd base. That is not the ideal warm-up for a pitching start the next day. He could be very vulnerable today.

I know people are skeptical about Bieber but his numbers are good these playoffs. I still think he probably should have started last night. Scherzer's 3runs in 4.1 wasn't exactly stellar.

also, one silver lining is that 18 innings would have really put the strain on Bo and Kirk. So hopefully their relatively rested state pays off today.

I think it's probably Ernie that goes to the top of the order.

3B Clement
LF Lukes
1B Guerrero
DH Bichette
CF Varsho
C Kirk
RF Barger
2B Falefa
SS Gimenez

ump scorecard surprisingly thinks the ump was fairly accurate last night.

but unsurprisingly also thinks he gave a half-run expectancy edge to the dodgers.

With all the talk of manager substitutions are we forgetting that Fluharty came in to get two lefthanders out and both drove in runs. Then Seranthony came in to preserve a lead and grooved a meatball to Ohtani.

We win that game with better bullpen pitching.

Good points Jerry.  Flu's command was poor again, which is a problem for the entire bullpen.  As bad as pitching to Ohtani was, that cookie that Ser dished out was just horrendous.  I honestly don't trust the command of a single reliever other than the two converted starters.

"We win that game with better bullpen pitching."

Amen to that.

If the manager wasn’t so fixated on Flu/Seranthony being superior options to Lauer against Ohtani/Freeman in innings 5-9, the Blue Jays likely would have won the game prior to extra innings. For some reason John Schneider has trouble reevaulating his priors about players.

I agree. There is a reason they are starting pitchers not relievers - they are usually better pitchers.

It’s not like we have a lights out bullpen and you’re demoting sure things down leverage chart.

Bassitt has looked great and Lauer has to be better than half our pen at least. Berrios probably a better option than Fisher and Little at this stage.

As Gerry said the specialist relievers are letting everyone inheirited score anyway so there isn’t even that excuse.

Would love to have a recording of that mound visit before the Ohtani meatball Dominguez grooved - truly the worst located pitch of the season l. Smoltz said something like you just can’t pitch there and he was right.

yeah the undervaluing of Bassitt/Lauer as relievers is the most frustrating thing for me.

though a lot of that is clearly an organizational shift to valuing velocity a whole lot more than they used to.

I understand why managers are generally reluctant to trust starters in relief situations. But yeah, Bassitt and Lauer (along with Hoffman) do seem the two most trustworthy bullpen options this week.

Any 18 inning game will inspire a lot of second guessing, for the winner and the loser. I was fine with all the pinch running. The only major decision I worried about in the moment was calling on Domimguez for the Ohtani-Freeman part of the order. Dominguez and LH batters is trouble waiting to happen.

I don't know what Schneider's supposed to do about that part of the order now. Fluharty couldn't get them yesterday, Little is just barely ahead of Heineman on the bullpen depth chart, Lauer is surely not available today.

There are two companies doing ump scorecards. Both had that call as #1.

Agreed that there's so much room for MMQB'ing after a game like that. I think most of what was done was justified to a greater or lesser extent. In the moment and now I still think that the pinch running for Barger was a silly waste of valuable resources. I really don't know what Schneider is going to do at all with his pen today - there really aren't any good options from the left side. I'd roll with Fisher probably as he's been their best reliever against LHH all year.

They've definitely shifted to valuing stuff in the bullpen which is fine, but I don't think they have a single reliever with consistently reliable command.  They're ALL stuff guys.

Honestly Bieber and Gausman and Yesavage are all strong options. Here is what I want to see from our manager:

1) Let Bieber go as far as possible when the alternative is to use "specialists" like Fluharty, Little and Dominguez against the top of the order a 3rd time. Bonus idea: use an opener like Dominguez or Varland

2) Give Ohtani the Aaron Judge treatment

3) Use Bassitt, Bieber and Yesavage as relief options in GAMES 5, 6 and 7

Bieber and Yesavage both have had very strong reverse splits this year. I'd try to get both thru the top of the order 3 times if possible.

Wonder what the overall factor would be if they were able to factor in the Bo 'pickoff' as well. I assume the #1 impact missed call ignores that and just factors in the Varsho count impact.

I would guess that the discussion today is about using Yesavage today in the pen and going with a bullpen day tomorrow vs. trying to get through today with the pen and starting Yesavage tomorrow. I would assume that the answer hangs on today's game circumstances. It's easy if Bieber gets shelled. Every other situation, the decisions are harder.

Annual starting pitcher salaries for the WS (from BRef):

LAD
Snell $28M
Yamamoto $14M
Ohtani $28M
Glasnow $32M

Total $102M (The Ohtani number is from BRef, the real number is higher but because of deferrals it is valued lower)

TBJ
Yesavage $1M
Gausman $23M
Scherzer $15M
Bieber $10M

Total $49M

The Dodgers starters salaries are roughly double the Blue Jays.

Do you get what you pay for?

Ben Clemens has an article at Fangraphs looking at the win probability before and after each of Ohtani's intentional walks. The Dodgers odds of winning rose after each of the walks.

ask him to do run probablities for each pinch runner.

Do you get what you pay for?

While there's no disputing the Dodgers' massive payroll, it should be noted that the Jays are paying 40M to two starting pitchers that they have deemed not good enough to be in their top four.

Wonder what the overall factor would be if they were able to factor in the Bo 'pickoff' as well. I assume the #1 impact missed call ignores that and just factors in the Varsho count impact.

The umpire blew the call, and then took a long time to indicate that he had done so. But Bo's walkabout was entirely on him, not the umpire.

I'll go 80/20 on Bo/Varsho on the blame for the walkabout. If you look at the replay, Varsho, after a hesitation and looking at the umpire, walks away from the plate and starts taking off his elbow guard. I think Varsho wasn't just "milking the missed call" he was actually confused about the call. It wasn't like Vladdy spinning the bat before the ump actually calls ball/strike.

Umpires miss calls all the time, and yet I've never seen a play like that in the regular season, much less in the World Series. So yes, the umpire made a bad call, but Bichette should not have been picked off there. That's inexcusable and most of the blame should go to him and Varsho (in whichever percentage breakdown you think is appropriate).

I blame Bo 100% for that. If you look at replay, Bo had his back to the plate for some reason and thought it was ball four and started walking to second. It was Bo walking to second that fooled Varsho. Jays got thrown out a few times but I am fine with the calls to send. This not paying attention is unforgivable. So was Heinemen not running on a 3-2 count with 2 outs and then not sliding. Kirk would have been easily because he would have been off with the pitch. Just absolutely basic baseball stuff.

Hard disagree. The second you slide you slow down. The run and step over softball stop was exactly right

So schneider isn't releasing the lineup because springer's status is still up in the air for tonight.

That's good news for springer being able to return this series.

Shi Davidi
@ShiDavidi
·
8m
Springer's "right side kind of grabbed on him a little bit," said Schneider, who added "right now the options are either in the lineup or on the bench," indicating the Blue Jays are not considering subbing him off roster.

Shi Davidi
@ShiDavidi
·
16m
No Blue Jays lineup as George Springer is still being checked out, said manager John Schneider. “MRI showed that he's hour-to-hour, day-to-day, so just see how he kind of navigates the next couple hours.”

Depending on his status, Bo Bichette will be either 2B or DH.

"While there's no disputing the Dodgers' massive payroll, it should be noted that the Jays are paying 40M to two starting pitchers that they have deemed not good enough to be in their top four."

This is a silly comment imho. First off you're evaluating only 1 year of the co tract not the entirety.

Second you pretend like these guys miraculously stopped being good. Trey Yesavage has emerged and basically 95% of baseball pitchers are worse than him. Shane Bieber arrived, he's pretty good. Saying that Berrios and Bassitt don't rack your top 4 is like saying Tyler Glasnow isn't good enough to crack your top 3 or Mookie Betts isn't good enough to crack your top 3...look who's ahead of them. Silly.

The Blue Jays and Springer might benefit from giving him a day off. Is his body even in shape to deploy his “A” swing? He has been looking pretty hobbled in the World Series.

I get that walking Ohtani increased win probability - but did it increase LESS than another HR would have increased it?

Hard disagree. The second you slide you slow down. The run and step over softball stop was exactly right"

I mean, if he were running on the 3-2 pitch, he could have strolled into 3B. Not running in that situation is a T-ball mistake.

The second you slide you slow down.

Indeed. The purpose of sliding is to stop, right there. It is, essentially, hitting the brakes.

a slide lets you slow down much less than trying to stop standing up and keeping your foot on the bag does.

More on my Ty France bafflement. He has 6th % sprint speed. Loperfido has 81st %. So Loperfido can play all three OF spots, pinch run and hit lefty and France is a 1B-only who can't run. With Jays already carrying Vlad, Bo, and Springer who are essentially three RH DH/1B, why did the Jays feel the need to add a 4th? They already don't start Schneider who is better than France in every way. What was the use case? To me, this is like Bruehl in the first playoff round where they were overworried about a specific scenario that is unlikely to occur so don't carry a player who is just way more useful.

springer on the bench.

top 3 hitters moved up a slot. barger to cleanup.bo DH and IKF at 2b.

omg! Vladdy at #2!

Find yourself someone who loves you as much as Schneider loves IKF.

four left handed hitters vs Ohtani, Barger, Varsho, Gimenez and Lukes.

The lack of utility of France has been clear since the beginning:

https://www.battersbox.ca/comment.php?mode=view&cid=471402

(Yes, I'm trying to will him into a key pinch-hit tonight.)

reason there's no loperfido this series is because the dodgers are full of lhp.

reason there's no loperfido this series is because the dodgers are full of lhp."

Dodgers lefties threw 2.2 innings yesterday. Righties threw 15.1 innings.

If Loperfido had 5+ years of service time and France was under 1 year, then who do they choose in that scenario? It has nothing to do with handedness. France provides zero value. He's a below average hitter with neutral splits, can't play anywhere on the field except 1B, and is the slowest runner on the team. I actually hope it's service time related and not them thinking he provides enough value to be on the roster.

ah yes it's not because France is better vs righties and much better vs lefties and loperfido is bad in the field its because our team is run by absolute morons.

i forgot sorry.

France ... is the slowest runner on the team

This is Alejandro Kirk erasure and I will not stand for it!

There is really only once scenario if use France and it was for the Lukes AB yesterday. For Lukes or Gimenez against LHP late in games where you really need a run. But... Even if you use him, you then need a defensive replacement so if Straw is in game, you can't really use France for Lukes and because Bo is hurt, very hard to lose Gimenez at all.

BELIEBE.

The silver lining of Ohtani pitching is if the Jays knock him out as pitcher, they knock him out of hitting too, right?

if the Jays knock him out as pitcher, they knock him out of hitting too, right?

No - MLB implemented an Ohtani Rule. He can stay in as the DH even after being removed as pitcher.

pinch run for barger here i assume

one upside of IBBing Ohtani every time would be saving you a full innings worth of pitches by the third time through.

UO, I don't understand why your response to criticism by others that you don't agree with is a sarcastic appeal to authority, but yet you regularly criticize decisions made by the manager and front office.

I may have missed this, but I have yet to hear a good explanation when France is going to be used, other than, as noted above, pinch-hitting for Lukes or Barger (they won't pinch-hit for Varsho or Gimenez), which then requires Straw to immediately replace him defensively and if he gets on base.

You response seems to be that the team should be worried about Wroblewski and Banda in the bullpen at the expense of having a defensively useless (not a reflection of his fielding ability, just that Vladdy is never leaving a game) and incredibly slow player on the bench. Loperfido has defensively utility (he seems to grade out as average with a below-average arm according to Baseball Reference) and can run.

Other than against Blake Snell, the Jays have started every game with four right-handed hitters and their backup catcher on the bench.

and i don't get why people can't just disagree with a decision but have to pretend that there's literally no justification for it.

especially when the explanation seems pretty simple - for good reasons, they think France is a better hitter than Loperfido, especially against lefties, of which the dodgers have 5 of them to worry about this series.

this all probably stems from everyone still overrating Loperfido due to an insane babip streak when he first came up. Loperfido's not a good hitter. not a good fielder either.

gonna need vladdy to have some good at bats sometime soon.

Vladdy!!!

....ah thankyou.

As ordered, a Vlad swing delivers.

Maybe he's ok hitting 2nd in the order.

i beliebe

take a seat, shohei

I don't think there's "no" justification. I just think the justification seems to weigh the impact on their bench it will be to have to hit France for Lukes or Barger and then immediately use Straw for defense/running very differently than I would have, especially since IKF has to be held back to sub for Bo if he doesn't start. It just creates a very limited bench and his role seems superfluous with Schneider probably only starting against Snell and would otherwise be available to hit for Lukes or Barger.

(I also disagree with your assessment of Loperfido's defence and hitting (he does grade out as average on Savant, he'd be the second fastest runner on the team, which seems costly when Schneider was the only pinch-running option late and was thrown out), but I think the weight is wrong even if you think France is a bit better hitter.

In any event, I wish Lukes had been able to hit that single in the 13th, but I'll take it today.

man that curveball is so hittable if they sit on it.

3 good at bats that inning at least.

Yeah his curveball easily looks the worst of his pitches right now (his only bad one, really).

Ump now missing big calls for the Dodgers. One against Kirk and one to walk Edman.

66 pitches.

enough left to get 2 more innings and thru the top of their order one more time....if he can.

Just tuning in now. Is the home plate ump favouring the Dodgers overall again? On the radio it sounded as though a ball well inside against Kirk was called a strike.

It isn't as obvious as yesterday IMHO, but yeah a couple of edge pitches both inside and outside have been mis-called against the Jays. There was one at bat for Bieber where he maybe got a generous call on 3-1, but then the ump made up by calling strike 3 a ball on 3-2. But it has all been on really close pitches so far, not like yesterday where there were really clear bad calls like the ball 4 to Varsho that got Bo picked off.

Huge inning by Beiber. Jays need innings out of him as well as quality.

Thanks for that helpful summary, Michael.

Terrific pitching by Bieber in the fifth (Pages, Ohtani, Betts retired 1-2-3).

Now that's how you do it Bieber.

Beauty.

I want to see Bieber back in the sixth. Pitch count is 75, he’s probably good for one more valuable inning. Maybe two, if the stars align.

Bieber was the anti-Seranthony in how he pitched to Ohtani. Seranthony tried to dominate him with velocity yesterday — 98 down the middle. Result: home run. Bieber went curve down 82, FB up and in 91, curve away 93. He used veteran pitching savvy instead of mere heat to strike him out.

how to pitch to Ohtani:

Bieber is making himself some money tonight. Not that there was much doubt but Bieber will be popular after he opts out.

KEEP HIM IN

bah.

please be good bullpen.

Here comes the bullpen stress again. Wish Vladdy had been able to snag the Freeman grounder.

Three hard hit balls to start the inning. I can’t criticize that pull.

3.2 innings from our bullpen in a 1 run game what could go wrong

Yeah have to agree, they hit him quite hard this inning. Got about what we'd expect from him. C'mon Flu

ok that was great fluharty.

Bullpen charged with getting 11 outs. Fluharty got two (well done, Mason). Nine more to go.

ok is it just bassitt/varland/hoffman now or what.

I was thinking Bassitt to start the 7th but Fluharty looked so good maybe go hitter to hitter with him.

When Fluharty is on, he is tough.

make them regret keeping ohtani in over 90 pitches please.

that'll do, ernie, that'll do

Darn. I thought that might be a HR.

Two clutch late-inning hits by Varsho and Clement to give the Blue Jays a golden opportunity to add on.

If Gimenez is retired without either runner scoring, I'll be curious to see what they do with IKF's spot.

I don't doubt he'll be left in if Gimenez pushes at least one of them across, even if it's a sac fly.

So many interesting decisions. Schneider for Gimenez? Or for IKF? I think I’d PH for IKF he’s just looked so poor at the plate.

Could do a squeeze or safety bunt

they should really pinch hit for gimenez here tbh.

clement to ss barger to 3b straw to rf the defensive coverage ends up just as good.

That was an unbelievably good AB.

i apologize, Gimenez the Great.

Gimenez quietly (and sometimes loudly) contributing a lot this postseason.

What an AB by Gimenez. Just so hard to reconcile this hitter with the guy we saw most of the year.

Unbelievable

He’s safe

so safe

Obviously safe at first. Can't wait for New York to screw this up again.

Another good test to see which team New York replay room wants to win.

good.

Come on France. The rule is that if we talk smack about you, you have to come through!

managing genius right there!

Lukes has looked really good at bat so I wouldn't make this PH. So obviously needs to work.

Vive la France.

Way to go Ernie.

Have to say I’d now like to see Fluharty stay in. Keep a guy in who’s dealing.

Remember when people used to get outraged when Clement started games against a RHP?

bassitt for 3?

or bassitt/varland/hoff?

That swing was vintage Bichette. If he actually gets hot…

Slept through the first six innings (thank you jet lag) but tuned in just in time for the top of the 7th rally. You’re welcome, everybody.

I thought France was going to go deep after what I said about him earlier, but I guess that doesn't work on Ty.

Regardless good to see the bats string together hits. That's their only chance with limited power threats in the lineup.

Having a big lead has a lot of benefits for Toronto. For example, they can leave Springer on the bench to rest up. And they can ease up a bit on the bullpen churn.

I think they'll go an inning each, but I see a strong case for leaving Bassitt in for all three/until he gets into trouble.

Chris Bassitt, still a Toronto Blue Jay, getting a hold in the seventh inning of Game 4 of the World Series. Just as we foresaw in spring training.

"That swing was vintage Bichette. If he actually gets hot…"

hot?

by my calculations he's at a 167wrc+ in his 12pa so far.

Please leave Bassitt in for as long as he can go. The more fresh arms the better for tomorrow.

Leave Bassitt in.

Bassitt has really looked sharp as a reliever. The sinker has more giddy up and bite, the slow curve is a much different look than the typical power breaking stuff most teams are obsessed with seeing out of their late inning relievers.

I leave Bassitt in. But I like leaving relievers in for longer. But if Bassitt can finish the game and leave the arms rested after yesterday's crazy game that puts us in a good spot for tomorrow.

Should be a six game, total runs series.

Agreed but Schneider loves to tinker and use lots of bullpen arms.

Bichette's had a couple of doubles turn into singles too since he can't run. He's hitting great, I am happily surprised.

Sportsnet feed crapped out on me again, yo ho ho to the other part of the internet.

ernie is such a beauty

The Dodgers sure hit a lot of guys with FBs when they are losing.

but wouldn't you like to also have bassitt available tomorrow?

maybe we get enough runs here to use little to finish it off?

Clement's not the fastest, but he gets up to full speed real quick.

Don’t use Hoffman. Saving him makes it much more likely he’ll be effective tomorrow.

I don’t think you could bring a starter back for three fairly pitch heavy outings in 3 days. Bassitt is already toast for tomorrow

Yeah, if Little could go 2, I'd do that. Are 5 runs enough for Little for 2 though?

bassitt has thrown 10 tonight and 8 last night that's not at all "pitch-heavy".

My thinking is the same as Nigel's. I'd worry about Bassitt's availability tomorrow regardless, so I see the argument for letting him do at least another inning on the assumption he's highly unlikely to be used tomorrow.

The other thing is I don't see Schneider letting Little close this out, so we'd probably be looking at Fisher or Seranthony, I'd guess.

LA is dangerous, even down five. Keep getting outs.

It’s not just how many pitches he’s thrown in the game. He’s thrown a ton in the bullpen to warm up.

bassitt is our best reliever

Tonight is the fourth time IKF has swung on a 3-0 pitch in his career.

And tonight is the first time Bassitt's thrown on consecutive days in his career. That's part of the reason I'd worry about using him tomorrow.

Seriously, though. He's pitching like it. He looks so impressive since Game 7 aagainst Seattle.

Let Bassit finish the game and save all other relievers for tomorrow.

Let him get his first major league save in the World Series!

Yeesh Bassitt give them a chance at least

Why the heck would you take him out now?

Agreed. Worry about tomorrow tomorrow, you might as well ride Bassitt until the end or the Dodgers start hitting him hard.

But I wouldn’t be shocked if Schneider goes to Hoffman out of habit, should the lead remain at 5.

Not to get too far ahead of myself but I’m looking forward to 2B Bo Bichette and high leverage reliever Chris Bassitt on the 2026 Jays.

So they’re going to use Varland? That’s nuts

I guess if you want to make the case for taking him out, you could point to his recent back injury and using him two nights in a row. Maybe the manager feels the best way to keep him healthy and effective for the rest of the series is to pull him now.

It looks like John's favourite, Varland, rather than Fisher or Seranthony. I don't agree with this, I'd rather save that part of LA's lineup from seeing him again.

Varland's already faced Teo, Muncy and Edman yesterday, so that's giving them two looks at him with three games to go.

Katie - maybe because they plan on using Bassitt in high leverage back in Toronto???

Don't get Varland here at all but he's Schneider's default guy and I guess I'm just happy he isn't pitching Hoffman.

I don’t mean that to snarky, I’m just excited!

Just a stupid decision

I think that's part of it, but there are two or three games to go. If these games are competitive, there are going to be multiple high-leverage innings for the bullpen in each game.

They are seemingly comfortable with Varland facing some guys three times, but the stats suggest the batting lines go noticeably up on the third time seeing a reliever in a series (which, of course, has to be weighed against the skill of the reliever themselves).

Would have been better to let Bassitt start the inning.

Here comes the unnecessary John Schneider bullpen churn (again).

instant drama

Now they’re going to burn Hoffman. Unbelievable

And now they are warming Hoffman up. Come on!!! He pitched two innings yesterday. You have other relievers!

Like I think Schneider deserves manager of the year, but he does seem to like to make too many moves IMHO. Bassitt should have picked up the save and he would still be able to pitch Fri and/or Sat.

Buck's convinced Hoffman's coming in regardless. I hope he's wrong.

Varland is rebounding nicely.

Varland has to be burned for tomorrow.

clever

Phew. Great effort.

over 4 hours earlier than last night. thank god.

Ballgame. JS can stop hyperventilating and Hoffman can sit down (after unnecessarily warming up).

The best men at Schneider’s wedding were Varland and IKF.

If only the Jays didn’t squander yesterday, they would have a stranglehold on this series. The World Series.

Best of 3 with two home games to go….

Amazing team win. This team could have been deflated fter yesterday but they just don't do that. Series will come back to Toronto now for sure.

dodgers gotta feel lucky to not be down 3-1 at this point.

Chance to sneak a win tomorrow and bring the team to within one win heading back to TO.

Man, this is so much fun.

Canada gets to sleep tonight

This team doesn't let losses get them down. They came right back after Game 3 and held it down. Tomorrow night is huge. Going back to Toronto down 3-2 and facing Yamamoto again is not the ideal scenario. Win tomorrow night and then get two cracks at winning it all.

Never saw last night as a demoralizer tbh. Getting crushed is demoralizing. Losing in the 18th just means you know you can beat them.

Love that they tried to push Ohtani just a bit too far cuz of their bad and burnt pen and it backfired. Turning point of the game i think.

Otoh, imo bieber's performance is not a shock and why he should probably have pitched yesterday and been on track for game 7.

... Hopefully there is no Game 7. But if there is, maybe Bieber will still pitch some on 3 days rest. All hands on deck.

Yesavage’s stuff and control/command tomorrow (along with the umpiring) is going to be so important. If he’s on, and I think he will be, Toronto will have a good chance to win.

Vladdy is clearly limping.
His running didn't look right yesterday either.

I think they pulled Scherzer for game 3 because they don't trust Bieber on normal rest.

The issue with the bad call yesterday is that Varsho didn't hear the strike call on a pitch that was clearly a ball. So today, the ump was loud as hell and I liked it.

Huge difference in Fluharty outcome.

A propos not much really, but it was pretty cool to see Sandy Koufax at the ball game.

Koufax is one of four men still alive who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. That's the same number of people still alive who've walked on the moon.

I wonder if Chris Bassitt is becoming the new Dennis Eckersley

Nice comp. AMAZING GAME. WOOOOOO!! Bring on Yamamoto. LAD will use Ohtani, Glasnow, Snell, Yamamoto for Game 7.

My mental math says our run differential through 15 playoff games is 95-65. That seems good.

Cancel the parade ay, it's only 94-66.

It would be a little more difficult for the Dodgers to use Ohtani on the mound in game 7 if he doesn't start. There would not be any "Ohtani rule" protections in place, so using him in the pen means they would lose the DH when he's done pitching.

2 runners on, 1 out, lefty Fluharty comes in to get #6 lhh Muncy and strikeout #7 shh Edman.

2 runners on, 0 out, lefty Banda comes in and #8 lhh Gimenez works an incredible ~10pitch at bat for a key hit and rbi. Gets the next two (tho both got the swings they wanted) but the gimenez hit meant the big boys got up again and there's the big inning.

Not sure whether the story there is relievers or bottom order clutchness, but either way that's the difference in the game right there.

There was a good quote by Chris Bassitt from a Sportsnet article today that summarized the Blue Jay way. "But we just have a play-style that we're willing to die for. If we get beat, we get beat...For us, it's don't give up home runs and then play really good defence and usually we win the game when we do that and grind starters and don't strike out. We have a trust in the systems.”

Bassitt turning into a dependable reliever has been a huge development. Not sure he’s available tonight (it would be 3 days in a row for a SP), but I think I trust him in the 8th inning more than any other RP on the team at this point.

This morning I was looking at the Fox post game show. They had Vlad on and A Rod asked him about what happened in the locker room after the 18 inning loss?

Vlad said, and I am paraphrasing here. "I was the last one into the locker room and I saw everyone had their heads down, and I said come on bro, head up, its not over yet. They have to win four games, its not over. If you want to put on some music put it on. And we put on some music, then we go home and rest and come back and win today".

It shows how Vlad is the team leader, and seemingly a good one.

Several player have talked about how Vlad has taken on more of a leadership role this season.

It's frustrating that Vlad's regular season stats weren't quite up to par this year, but i still think he was on his way to catching up before that late injury and post injury slump.

But i'm just so thankful that ownership stepped up and realized that losing this guy would send them all the way back to square 1, and really back to square negative 1 or worse, because so much of the fanbase would have just given up on the franchise.

But of course none of it would have looked this good without vladdy stepping up these playoffs and showing that he's clearly the super-elite talent that we needed him to be, and mostly thought he was, even though large doubts crept in.

All-time best hitter postseason runs...

Min 50pa

1. Beltran '04: 56pa, 284wrc+
2. Bonds '02: 74pa, 259wrc+
3. Vladdy '25: 74pa, 248wrc+
4. Freese '11: 71pa, 245wrc+
5. Molitor '93: 54pa, 244wrc+

World Series Stats (4gms):



Starters:

1. LAD DH Ohtani: 33pa, 3hr, 5rbi, 31.8b%, 18.2k%, .375babip, .400avg, .733iso, 327wrc+
2. TOR C Kirk: 19pa, 2hr, 6rbi, 21.1b%, 15.8k%, .300babip, .357avg, .429iso, 222wrc+
3. TOR RF Barger: 14pa, 1hr, 5rbi, 0.0b%, 21.4k%, .500babip, .429avg, .214iso, 202wrc+
4. TOR 1B Vladdy: 23pa, 1hr, 2rbi, 17.4b%, 8.7k%, .375babip, .368avg, .158iso, 180wrc+
5. LAD 1B Freeman: 21pa, 1hr, 2rbi, 19.0b%, 4.8k%, .267babip, .294avg, .235iso, 160wrc+
6. TOR 2B Bichette: 13pa, 0hr, 2rbi, 15.4b%, 7.7k%, .400babip, .364avg, .000iso, 145wrc+

7. LAD RF Teoscar: 20pa, 1hr, 14bi, 10.0b%, 25.0k%, .333babip, .278avg, .167iso, 124wrc+
8. TOR CF Varsho: 22pa, 1hr, 2rbi, 9.1b%, 18.2k%, .231babip, .222avg, .167iso, 120wrc+
9. LAD C Smith: 20pa, 1hr, 4rbi, 10.0b%, 20.0k%, .250babip, .235avg, .176iso, 119wrc+

10. TOR DH Springer: 12pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 25.0k%, .374babip, .273avg, .091iso, 100wrc+
10. LAD 3B Muncy: 20pa, 1hr, 1rbi, 15.0b%, 35.0k%, .222babip, .176avg, .235iso, 100wrc+
12. TOR 3B Clement: 19pa, 0hr, 1rbi, 0.0b%, 10.5k%, .353babip, .316avg, .053iso, 90wrc+
13. TOR LF Lukes: 18pa, 0hr, 1rbi, 11.1b%, 16.7k%, .308babip, .250avg, .063iso, 87wrc+

14. LAD 2B Edman: 20pa, 0hr, 1rbi, 10.0b%, 25.0k%, .231babip, .167avg, .056iso, 37wrc+
15. LAD SS Betts: 22pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 13.6b%, 13.6k%, .188babip, .158avg, .000iso, 18wrc+
16. TOR SS Gimenez: 19pa, 0hr, 3rbi, 5.3b%, 36.8k%, .300babip, .188avg, .000iso, 14wrc+
17. LAD LF Kike: 17pa, 0hr, 2rbi, 0.0b%, 47.1k%, .333babip, .188avg, .000iso, -7wrc+
18. LAD CF Pages: 15pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 13.3k%, .077babip, .067avg, .000iso, -74wrc+


Benches

19. TOR PH France: 4pa, 0hr, 1rbi, 0.0b%, 25.0k%, .333babip, .250avg, .000iso, 37wrc+
20. LAD PH Call: 5pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 20.0k%, .250babip, .200avg, .000iso, 7wrc+
21. TOR UT Schneider: 6pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 33.3k%, .250babip, .167avg, .000iso, -14wrc+
22. TOR IF Falefa: 13pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 7.7b%, 15.4k%, .000babip, .000avg, .000iso, -78wrc+
23. LAD IF Rojas: 3pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 0.0k%, .000babip, .000avg, .000iso, -100wrc+
23. TOR C Heineman: 3pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 33.3k%, .000babip, .000avg, .000iso, -100wrc+
25. TOR OF Straw: 7pa, 0hr, 0rbi, 0.0b%, 42.9k%, .000babip, .000avg, .000iso, -100wrc+






Starters:

1. LAD RH Yamamoto: 1gms, 9.0ip/gm, 24era-, 41fip-, 62xfip-

2. TOR RH Bieber: 1gms, 5.3ip/gm, 41era-, 87fip-, 138xfip-
3. TOR RH Gausman: 1gms, 6.7ip/gm, 99era-, 124fip-, 104xfip-
4. TOR RH Yesavage: 1gms, 4.0ip/gm, 111era-, 67fip-, 78xfip-
5. LAD RH Glasnow: 1gms, 4.7ip/gm, 92era-, 133fip-, 118xfip-
6. LAD RH Ohtani: 1gms, 6.0ip/gm, 143era-, 89fip-, 89xfip-

7. LAD LH Snell: 1gms, 5.0ip/gm, 215era-, 152fip-, 139xfip-
8. TOR RH Scherzer: 1gms, 4.3ip/gm, 153era-, 201fip-, 145xfip-



Relievers

1. TOR RH Bassitt: 3gms, 1.3ip/gm, 0era-, 31fip-, 51xfip-
2. LAD LH Wrobleski: 2gms, 1.3ip/gm, 0era-, 40fip-, 54xfip-
3. LAD RH Klein: 2gms, 2.5ip/gm, 0era-, 56fip-, 94xfip-

4. LAD LH Dreyer: 2gms, 1.2ip/gm, 0era-, 74fip-, 108xfip-
5. LAD RH Henriquez: 1gms, 2.0ip/gm, 0era-, 63fip-, 101xfip-
6. TOR LH Lauer: 2gms, 2.8ip/gm, 0era-, 112fip-, 186xfip-
7. TOR RH Hoffman: 2gms, 1.3ip/gm, 0era-, 119fip-, 177xfip-
8. LAD RH Sasaki: 1gms, 1.7ip/gm, 0era-, 147fip-, 183xfip-

9. LAD LH Kershaw: 1gms, 0.3ip/gm, 0era-, 74fip-, 76xfip-
10. TOR LH Fluharty: 3gms, 0.6ip/gm, 133era-, 16fip-, 106xfip-
11. TOR RH Varland: 3gms, 1.0ip/gm, 221era-, 73fip-, 112xfip-
12. LAD RH Sheehan: 2gms, 1.5ip/gm, 214era-, 112fip-, 140xfip-
13. TOR RH Fisher: 3gms, 1.1ip/gm, 133era-, 175fip-, 150xfip-
14. TOR RH Dominguez: 2gms, 1.2ip/gm, 95era-, 208fip-, 139xfip-
15. LAD RH Treinen: 2gms, 0.3ip/gm, 322era-, 74fip-, 76xfip-

16. TOR LH Little: 1gms, 1.0ip/gm, 221era-, 411fip-, 174xfip-
17. LAD LH Banda: 3gms, 0.6ip/gm, 645era-, 474fip-, 250xfip-

Betts is really killing them. He's never been a great postseason guy but this is just not good enough from your 2 hitter hitting by a guy we keep IBBing. Not sure they have a good change to make tho - they could flip Smith up into the 2 hole but after the 18 inning game behind the plate he looks gassed.

On another note, there was a pre-series LA pod that was calling this a huge mismatch - which didn't bug me in itself, but more for the kind of reasons they followed it up with....

"Can you name any of the Jays OFers?" was one. Which is fine, I guess, but i was like - who the hell are the Dodgers OFers? They've got an ok DH playing RF, nobody would know who the heck Pages even was if he wasn't in LA, and Kike is just plain bad. Yes i know he's been clutch in the playoffs before but listing this guy as a plus for the dodgers instead of a negative was still dumb.

and then the other question was "Who the heck is Alejandro Kirk?" and i'm like - you mean the 26yr old 2 time all star, Silver Slugger, Best Pitch Framer in Baseball? you don't know him? do you even follow the sport?

Yeah, if you follow baseball even if it is primarily west coast NL fan base, I'd assume that while you might not know the corner OF for the Jays you should know Varsho from being one of the best defensive OF in baseball and being in the majors for a while, and you'd know Kirk as you say (as well as Springer, Vlad, and Bo - and some of the vet SP). But I remember at least one of the pre-WS previews had Dodgers CF being a strength over Jays which I flagged as crazy.