And just like that: We have ourselves a series.
Both the Blue Jays and Dodgers won a game in Toronto, and they both did it in the way they plan on winning all their games: The Jays wore down the Dodgers pitchers and pounced on their bullpen in Game 1, and the Dodgers got a shutdown starting pitching performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2. But now we’ve got three games in three days in Los Angeles, the sort of high-stress situation that tends to lay best-laid plans to rest.
Throughout this postseason, I’ll be previewing the next day’s action, game by game. Here are three storylines for Monday’s World Series Game 3 from Dodger Stadium.
Does Mad Max have another vintage game in him?
One of the highlights of this postseason, a truly nostalgic throwback moment, was when a 41-year-old Scherzer not only got the Blue Jays a desperately needed ALCS Game 4 victory over the Mariners but even scowled off manager John Schneider when he came to the mound to talk about pulling him. (Schneider seemed positively giddy about it: “I’ve been waiting all year for that,” he said, smiling.) It was a terrific moment, with Scherzer, who had a 10.20 ERA in September and hadn’t pitched in a month, putting his team on his back just when you wondered if his career might be over.
But — and sorry we have to say this, please don’t get mad at us, Max — it still would be pushing it to say that was the “old” Scherzer on the mound. First off, he still gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking four; he was less “dominant” than he was fortunate to pitch himself out of trouble. Will that work against the superstars in the Dodgers’ lineup? Scherzer was good, and vital, for the Jays in the ALCS. But he wasn’t that Scherzer.
Another fun subplot to this: Dodgers fans have not forgotten that Scherzer was unable to pitch in their NLCS Game 6 against the Braves in 2021, a game they lost, ending their season and Scherzer’s brief Dodgers career after coming over as a Trade Deadline acquisition. One suspects the fine folks at Chavez Ravine will remind him of that on Monday.
Can the Dodgers’ Big Three get going?
The reason the Dodgers are in the World Series — and are still favored to win — is because of how incredible their starting pitching has been this entire postseason. But if you were to ask the average, somewhat casual fan what makes the Dodgers so good, their answer would probably be some variation on, “They have all those MVPs!” And they do, they have three, right there at the top of their lineup: Shohei Ohtani (three MVP Awards since 2021, with a fourth likely coming next month), plus 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and 2020 NL MVP Freddie Freeman.
It remains terrifying to have to face those guys to start any game, and it sure must feel like they’re constantly coming up in the lineup. But it should be said: They’re really not tearing it up this postseason. In the World Series, they’re 4-for-21 with 2 RBIs. In the entire postseason, even when you account for Ohtani’s NLCS Game 4 outburst, they’re a combined 34-for-142, a hardly MVP-esque .239 average. (Betts and Freeman have a combined one homer and seven RBIs in the 12 games.) This is particularly worrisome because the Blue Jays seem to have a firm plan for Ohtani, who’s 2-for-8 so far and keeps getting attacked by wily left-handers late.
The Dodgers’ rotation has done the trick so far. But the Dodgers are supposed to be bludgeoning guys with their MVPs. That’s not currently happening.
Can the Blue Jays get into the Dodgers bullpen?
So, the sample size we’re talking about here is obviously small, but it doesn’t take a genius to see what the Jays’ offensive strategy is, and how well it works when they’re able to successfully deploy it. The clear, obvious weakness of this Dodgers team is its bullpen, specifically its mushy middle in front of Roki Sasaki, and the quicker the Jays can get through these great Dodgers starters to face off against it, the more likely they are to win.
Best case, they wear down a starter, like they did with Blake Snell in Game 1, to the point that he can’t make it out of the sixth … and then the Blue Jays erupt in that sixth. Worst case? Well, as we saw in Game 2 … worst case is that the Jays don’t get into the Dodgers’ bullpen at all. Therefore, getting to Glasnow in Game 3 (and getting him out sooner rather than later) will be particularly important. That means not just hitting him hard but forcing him into deep counts, running up his pitch count and tiring him out — from the time George Springer steps into the box to start the game.
We’ve got three games in three days in Los Angeles, which will put a strain on any bullpen, let alone one as flimsy as the Dodgers’, and Yamamoto won’t be on the mound again until a (currently theoretical) Game 6 in Toronto. The Blue Jays can wear out this bullpen over the next three nights. They need to start Monday night.
