Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – The defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers and title-hungry Toronto Blue Jays vowed to be ready for the first World Series game seven since 2019 on Saturday. Toronto’s Rogers Centre promises to be electric after fans were left stunned by the Dodgers’ 3-1 triumph in a tight game six — in which a spectacular game-ending double play in the bottom of the ninth inning finally extinguished the home team’s hopes. The Blue Jays had the tying runs in scoring position in an eventful final frame that included a ground rule double by Addison Barger that lodged under the bottom edge of the outfield wall.
“That will take a while to kind of unpack,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “That’s a wild ending. But we’re going to be ready to play tomorrow.” The Blue Jays are trying to cap a remarkable rise from last place in the American League East division in 2024 with their first title since they won back-to-back World Series crowns in 1992 and 1993. After pipping the New York Yankees for the division title, they knocked out the Yankees in the AL division series, then rallied from 0-2 down to beat the Seattle Mariners in the AL championship series. They shook off an agonizing 18-inning game three defeat in Los Angeles to win the next two games and return home with a 3-2 series lead, but came up short in their first chance to clinch.
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On Saturday, they’ll face everything the defending champion Dodgers can throw at them. “I’m not sure the pitching situation, but (Tyler) Glasnow will be available,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after sending scheduled game seven starter Glasnow in to get the save on Friday. Roberts said two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani would feature on the mound, but he still hadn’t worked out just how. “It’s a possibility,” he said of the chance that Ohtani starts. He could pitch in relief, although if he pitches out of the bullpen and is the designated hitter, the Dodgers would lose the DH when he is replaced on the mound under MLB rules. “TBD,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers have carefully managed Ohtani’s pitching return this season in the wake of elbow ligament surgery that kept him off the mound in 2024, and he hasn’t pitched on three days’ rest in the regular season. “This is game seven, so there’s a lot of things that people haven’t done, and you’ve just got to trust your players and try to win a baseball game,” said Roberts, whose team is trying to become the first repeat champions since the Yankees won in 1998, 1999, and 2000. “We’re going to leave it out there. I don’t think that the pressure, the moment, is going to be too big for us.”
The Blue Jays will send three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer to the mound. Scherzer started the last World Series game seven for Washington when the Nationals vanquished the Houston Astros. “It’s the two best words in sports: ‘game seven,'” Schneider said. “No better guy to have on the mound to kind of navigate the emotions, the stuff.”
© 2024 AFP
