TORONTO — An Air Canada flight from Chicago to Toronto touched down early Thursday morning and the on-board announcement began with a message fitting the times.
“Welcome to Toronto,” began the attendant, sporting an American League Champions hoodie. “Let’s go Blue Jays, they’re going to win the Cup … I mean the trophy, in Game 6.”
Officially, it’s the Commissioner’s Trophy, but it’s been since 1993 that such a possibility has been this close to reality around these parts, so a little amnesia about the hardware’s proper name is understandable. Still, the sentiment was reflective of an expectant mood in the city after the Blue Jays took two straight at Chavez Ravine after the gutting, 18-inning loss in Game 3, and returned home up 3-2 in the best-of-seven World Series.
Wednesday night’s 6-1 win in Game 5, behind a Trey Yesavage performance so dominant that it’s headed directly to Blue Jays and MLB October folklore, and key tone-setting homers from Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the first and third pitches of the game, set up the club’s first title-clinching opportunity since Joe Carter touched them all 32 years ago.
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Watch the Blue Jays in the World Series on Sportsnet
The World Series is coming back to Toronto with the Blue Jays one win away from capturing their first title since 1993. Watch Game 6 on Friday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
It all made for a unique red-eye for the Blue Jays, during which “no one slept, despite how late it was,” said Davis Schneider. “Everyone’s just so excited, like, we kind of want the game to start today, even if no one got any sleep. That’s how much we’re ready for the moment.”
He was among the handful of Blue Jays to take the field during Thursday’s workout at Rogers Centre, “walking around the outfield in my bare feet, just trying to do something.”
Kevin Gausman, who starts Game 6 against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, did some light throwing, while Max Scherzer and Mason Fluharty also played some catch as John Schneider made the day optional.
The manager described the vibe on the plane as “exactly how it always is coming home with an off day,” and relayed how after Game 5 he walked through the clubhouse and “was impressed with just the back-and-forth that was happening and the not getting too high and kind of getting ready to get on a bus and get on a plane and come back here and get ready to play.”
“I actually texted my wife,” he continued. “She said, ‘Hey, how are you doing? Are you having fun?’ And I said, ‘I’m actually kind of calm, which is weird.’ After three days like that and an 18-inning game, I felt pretty calm. It was just like, all right, put on your headphones, watch a movie, have a beer, and kind of just chill. So it was a normal plane ride.”
John Schneider passed the time by watching Den of Thieves and once back at the dome took a plunge into the cold pool to try and revive himself, unsuccessfully as it turned out, before heading home for a nap.
Before long, he was back at Rogers Centre preparing for the team’s most significant game in three decades, with the status of George Springer and game-planning for Yamamoto atop the priority list.
Springer, who ran on the field and hit off the velocity machine Wednesday, “was right on the fence” of starting, said John Schneider and “he probably could have (but) I was really juggling what’s best for him, what’s best for the team, not just immediately to start the game, but kind of how that game may unfold, too. … I’m glad we didn’t need him and got him an extra couple days, but hopefully he’s good to go (Friday).”
Tipping the scales there will be “making sure he feels comfortable and confident, and not just for one at-bat, to go in and compete and kind of get locked into a game. He’s kind of checked every box physically so far, so see how (Friday) goes.”
Seeing how Friday goes, meanwhile, also applies to Yamamoto, who is coming off consecutive post-season complete games, including a four-hit, one-run, eight-strikeout masterpiece during a 5-1, Game 2 win.
Several Blue Jays hitters noted afterwards that it was the first time they faced Yamamoto in person and that they expected to apply that experience in the next encounter, which comes a mere six days after the last one.
“It’s always easier when you actually see a guy and feel what his stuff is playing like and what it does in comparison to other guys you’ve faced,” said John Schneider. “The delivery is a little unique, obviously, and there’s some deception there, but it comes down to putting together a good plan and seeing how he’s going to attack. Is it going to be the same way, which he had a lot of success with? Or is he going to deviate a little bit, and can we be ready to pivot with him?”
The Blue Jays did that versus Blake Snell in Game 5, getting to him for five runs over 6.2 innings after he allowed five in five innings during Game 1, “when he wasn’t really locating the fastball,” said Davis Schneider. “Knowing that for me, I felt like he was going to try to utilize that early, especially the first couple of hitters, me and Vladdy. So I feel like he was trying to utilize the fastball to get to the changeup, get to more off-speed pitches and we knew that going into the game. He also struck me out twice. He’s a good pitcher. You’ve got to make him throw pitches and we’ve been doing that all year.”
The adjustments can go both ways, as Yesavage built upon an uneven Game 1 when he allowed two runs in four innings but had to navigate constant traffic to deliver his seven-inning, three-hit, one-run, 12-strikeout masterpiece that still had the baseball world abuzz.
Reflecting on it a day later, the first moment John Schneider picked when asked about which parts of the outing beyond the obvious really stuck out to him, acknowledging that “it’s going to sound funny,” was “the initial comebacker (from Shohei Ohtani) that he kind of bobbled.”
“The way he flipped it to Vlad (Guerrero Jr. at first base) showed me he was where he should be mentally and didn’t panic,” he continued. “The double play to end the seventh, obviously, I’ll remember that. The number of pitches he threw, I’ll remember that. That’s a new high mark for him. Striking out five in a row. When he got into a rhythm there, it was fun to watch. Those are the things that jump out. There were a lot of quality pitches. There were some big, big strikeouts. Striking out I believe it was Alex Call to not get Ohtani up to the plate. He avoided some dangerous areas too. I was kind of in awe of a lot of what he did.”
Rightly so, especially since the performance put the Commissioner’s Trophy within the Blue Jays’ grasp.
