The last time the Toronto Blue Jays hosted Game 6 of a postseason series was Oct. 23, 1993. That night Joe Carter hit a series-clinching walkoff home run against the Philadelphia Phillies’ Mitch Williams, and the entire country of Canada went wild for the Blue Jays’ second World Series win in a row.
Fast forward 32 years, and the Blue Jays have a chance to lift their third World Series Championship – again at home – when they host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the Fall Classic.
Kevin Gausman draws the start for the Jays.
“When I signed here, I always felt this could be a possibility,” said Gausman “Maybe it took us a little longer, but I always believed there was this type of potential.”
“We’ve always had the talent since I’ve been here. So it’s nice to get to a point where that talent has matured into being one of the last two teams.
“That’s really exciting. I hope free agents can open their eyes a little bit, I mean if you’re watching this series and you watch the games in Toronto, why wouldn’t you want to play there. The fan base is incredible.”
Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the call for the visitors.
“It did give me a certain level of confidence,” Yamamoto said of going the distance again, through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.
Yamamoto, who has thrown two consecutive complete games including last Saturday in Toronto, has a chance to join a particularly exclusive club of pitchers with three consecutive complete games in the postseason. Only three have done it in a single postseason in the past 55 years: Curt Schilling (2001), Orel Hershiser (1988) and Luis Tiant (1975).
Toronto Manager John Schneider offered this when asked what his team has to do against Yamamoto
“Man, hopefully he’s a little tired,’’ said Schneider “Throwing that many innings. He’s unique because he’s got what seems like six or seven pitches, and can kind of morph into different pitchers as the game kind of goes on
“You have to be ready to hit, and you have to be stubborn with what kind of swings you’re taking, that’s what it comes down to. He’s not a guy you can kind of wait out. He’s going to pound the zone, so sometimes you got to force some action on him, if he’s going really well,” Schneider. added.
In the other dugout, Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts may shake up his lineup again in an attempt to get an anemic offense going.
LA is hitting just .168 in their last 29 innings, scoring only four runs.
“It’s fight or flight, it’s whatever adage or saying you want, to leave it all out there,’’ said Roberts. “It’s certainly not war. I’m not trying to compare that to war. But in our world, in our small world of baseball, it is war. So that’s the mindset.”
Game 6 first pitch flies just after 8 pm EST
Game 7, if necessary, goes Saturday night in Toronto again at 8 pm EST.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
