Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays speaks to the media at Rogers Centre on Thursday.Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
A while back, someone asked Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts if baseball was in need of “fresh blood.”
“People love fresh blood until they see the TV ratings,” Mr. Roberts said.
This is the first prong on Mr. Roberts’ two-pronged philosophy of what makes the Dodgers the Dodgers. First, that they are the biggest thing going. Not just in baseball. In anything.
Second, that their opponents should think that, too. The Dodgers don’t engage you in a playoff series. They invite you to undertake a hopeless task.
“Not giving these guys any opportunity of life,” is how Mr. Roberts describes it.
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Though the World Series doesn’t start until Friday, this is why the Toronto Blue Jays are already trailing.
On Thursday, the media horde hit the press box buffet in Toronto. What they say doesn’t matter. That they’re here does. The sight of so many strange faces puts the frighteners into any team that isn’t used to it. This is a typical October in northeast Los Angeles.
As has been their habit throughout the postseason, the Jays were leaning into their script about how this is just another day at work.
“I’m going to take on a few seconds to enjoy it,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “Then when you get into compete mode, hopefully it slows down a bit.”
Blue Jays manager John Schneider speaks to the media on Thursday.Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Hopefully?
This bumptious just-so-happy-to-be-here approach was charming in the last series, because the same style was being reflected back by Seattle. Against the Dodgers, it’s beginning to seem like what it is – callow.
Hoping things slow down is seven-game thinking. It’s we-have-some-time-to-figure-this-out thinking. The Jays need to find a new way of thinking.
You won’t catch Mr. Roberts taking a moment to soak in how beautiful the Dome’s concrete looks when the light hits it a certain way. He either wins this thing or he has blown a whole year of the greatest player of all time, who is already 31.
There are no small victories for the team that employs Shohei Ohtani, only huge failures.
That was the whole point of hiring him. Not only to win games, but to put everyone else on a clock.
It’s worked. Over a two-year run of dominance since acquiring Ohtani, the Dodgers have not lost the first game of a playoff series. They are the Mike Tyson of baseball. They’re thinking knockout as they come sprinting out of their own corner.
No great team beats you with talent. Everybody at this stage has got plenty. They win by convincing you to help them do it. They get in your head and start pulling cables until parts of your operation start blacking out.
That means no feel-out games. No waiting to be punched. Run to meet them in the centre of the ring.
Shortstop Bo Bichette speaks during the World Series baseball media day on Thursday.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
“I think the one thing we cannot do is look over there and say that is Goliath,” Mr. Schneider said.
Isn’t that you saying it?
The bulk of Mr. Schneider’s remarks concerned Bo Bichette, who is clearly returning for the World Series in some capacity. On Thursday, he was taking grounders at second – Andrés Giménez’s spot.
I get Mr. Bichette’s calculus here. He’s looking to sign a very large contract over the winter. It’s difficult to sell your indispensability to another team when the team you’re on just made a World Series without you. Of course he wants to play. Why the Jays want him to play is less clear.
Mr. Bichette is a great player, but no hitter who’s just taken a month off is great. Not for a week or two – which is the length of the World Series. Mr. Bichette doesn’t add anything with his defence. If anything, he’s a minus on that count.
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He’s a live bat on the bench, but the Dodgers’ line-up is a 10-year MVP class reunion. Every new hitter you put on the roster is a reliever who can’t be thrown at them in an emergency. A hitter who can’t run right is a liability.
The Jays had the winning combo. We know because it just won. Now you’ve told those players – the bottom end of the order in particular – that the one-man cavalry is coming. Imagine the headspace that would put you into.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage throws during a World Series baseball media day on Thursday in Toronto.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
Then there’s the decision to start Trey Yesavage in Game 1. It summons to mind the Philosophy 101 essay question about how the world’s second-best swordsman cannot beat the world’s best, but a guy who’s never been in a sword fight might.
Mr. Yesavage is a black box to the National League. Maybe that’s enough to unsettle the Dodgers.
It may also be enough to unsettle Mr. Yesavage.
“I try to treat [pressure] as if it’s not as high pressure as it is mentally,” Mr. Yesavage said Thursday. It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe that’s why it’s working.
The 22-year-old doesn’t seem to care about what he doesn’t know, but there are limits. Leading off the World Series in your seventh-ever big league start does not sound like the sort of onboarding baseball HR would come up with.
The Toronto crowd is electric, but that works both ways. You know they’re with you, and you know it even harder when they’ve lost faith. Mr. Yesavage hasn’t faced the latter circumstance yet. What happens if he has to?
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There are no perfect set-ups, but Toronto seemed to have found a perfect one for them. Kevin Gausman to Mr. Yesavage to Shane Bieber to Max Scherzer. Mr. Gausman would have to go on short rest, but it’s not like he’s saving something for later. They had a line-up that was rolling. Now they’re talking about putting another engine on the plane in mid-flight.
If it works, it’s genius. If not, then maybe they should take everyone’s phone away for a few days.
One thing should be clear to Toronto. Against this Dodgers team, there is no distinction between may-win and must-win games. You don’t get a running start. They’re already a few steps ahead of you.
If they hope to compete, Game 1 is an absolute must-win for the Toronto Blue Jays. Should they lose, they’ll start thinking, and once that happens, they’re cooked. Mr. Schneider’s right about that.
Toronto’s best – only? – chance is to surprise the Dodgers and everyone else and, most importantly, themselves.