Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman celebrates while playing the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto this past Saturday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
They are an eyelash from winning the World Series, but that went unspoken at Rogers Centre on Thursday by John Schneider, the Blue Jays’ manager. No need to provoke the baseball gods.
To hear him, it’s just the same old, same old. There is little to be excited about, really. Toronto clubs regularly cart major trophies back to this sports-mad metropolis.
Just a half-dozen years ago the Raptors won their first NBA title. The Blue Jays last lifted the Tiffany & Co.-manufactured Commissioner’s Trophy in 1993. The Maple Leafs – ah, never mind. Methuselah was their last winning goalie.
Toronto needs a victory on Friday or Saturday to clinch their third World Series championship since joining Major League Baseball in 1977. They won two out of three games in Los Angeles for a 3-2 advantage over the Dodgers in the best-of-seven arrangement.
They arrived on a red-eye flight early Thursday morning, having traded the heat of SoCal for the chilly rain of home. They were too bleary-eyed to take batting or fielding practice.
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Their bigger-picture journey here started during spring training nearly 8 1/2 months ago. They finished last in the American League East Division last year, so very little was expected.
A poor start only accentuated that. A summer turnaround saw them eventually overtake the New York Yankees on July 4. After that, they were never not first.
Fans have lived and died through the team’s peaks and valleys and have filled Rogers Centre for nearly every game since the mid-season break. The place will be a madhouse on Friday.
So much thirst for them to finish first.
Trey Yesavage and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. celebrate after winning Game 5 on Wednesday.Kiyoshi Mio/Reuters
They beat the Dodgers 6-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night with a superb pitching performance by rookie Trey Yesavage. It was so good, Major League Baseball had to comb back through its archives to find similar heroics by rookies in 1903 (Deacon Phillippe, no walks and at least 10 strikeouts) and 1912 (Smoky Joe Wood, youngest pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts in a World Series game).
In Game 5, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – Señor October – hit his eighth home run of the postseason, a team record. Ernie Clement – yes, Ernie Clement – has hits in 11 straight games.
In the clubhouse afterward and on the 4,000-kilometre transcontinental flight, Mr. Schneider noticed his players were calm. No whooping it up.
“The vibe was exactly how it always is coming home for an off day,” the manager said. “I was impressed with just kind of the back-and-forth that was happening. They weren’t getting too high. It was a normal plane ride.”
He popped on some headphones, watched a movie – Den of Thieves – and had a cold one. On Thursday, after meeting with the media, Mr. Schneider tossed a ball in the outfield with a few kids.
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If he is nervous it sure didn’t seem like it.
On Friday his team will try to stomp out years of frustration and be crowned the best in all of baseball. In 2024, it failed to make the playoffs. In three of the four seasons previous to that, it was swept in wildcard rounds.
It looks almost certain that George Springer will be back in the lineup for Game 6. So far in the World Series he has been hit by pitches on his right kneecap and the back of his hand and hurt himself swinging. The latter caused him to miss Games 4 and 5 of the World Series.
Mr. Schneider said Mr. Springer probably could have played on Wednesday in an emergency.
Injured in Game 3 of the World Series, the Blue Jays seem optimistic that George Springer can get back into the lineup for Friday's Game 6.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
“He was really on the fence,” the manager said. “I was really juggling what was best for him and what was best for the team. He was close. He was ready to come in but and I am glad we didn’t need him and got him an extra couple of days off. Hopefully he is good to go [Friday].
“Physically he has checked all of the boxes off.”
Kevin Gausman, the ace of Toronto’s pitching staff, will get the start in Game 6. Los Angeles will go with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He has pitched two straight complete games in the postseason. In his last outing in Game 2, he gave up just four hits and beat Mr. Gausman, 5-1.
“I think Kevin’s outing kind of got overlooked because Yamamoto was so good,” Mr. Schneider said. “Kevin kind of matched him pitch-for-pitch until the seventh inning. You kind of look at [Game 6] and it seems like an old-school pitchers’ duel is about to happen, but you never know how it will unfold.”
Neither Mr. Schneider nor his players got much sleep on the plane. Maybe a few winks at home. No boasting, no predictions, other than that they can’t wait for Game 6.
“I can’t wait to see what this place is like,” Mr. Schneider said. “I’m just excited as hell to see that and the guys are too. They’re talking about it. We can’t wait.
“You kind of want the game to start right now. It should be fun.”