LOS ANGELES — In all four games of this World Series, a tipping point has been waiting for manager John Schneider and the Blue Jays’ bullpen. This time, it wasn’t even tied to Shohei Ohtani.
Instead, Game 4’s big move felt so normal in a series that’s been anything but. Shane Bieber hit some turbulence in the bottom of the sixth and, with two runners on and clinging to a one-run lead, Schneider went to the funky lefty.
Mason Fluharty has been Schneider’s first move plenty of times this postseason, all five of his most recent appearances coming in either the fifth or sixth innings. This time, he drew Max Muncy, an excellent move by Schneider to match up Fluharty with the Dodgers’ third baseman who hit just .157 against lefties in the regular season. Fluharty got Muncy, struck out Tommy Edman and held the game in place for the Blue Jays to break it wide open in a 6-2 victory.
“I would have loved to have been able to get through a couple more innings, just coming off of last night, but what a game that was,” Bieber said. “At the same time, these guys picked me up in a huge way. Fluharty, Chris Bassitt – what can you say about that guy? One of my all-time favorites very quickly, and I already let him know that.”
Fluharty has been a fascinating wrinkle in this postseason run for the Blue Jays, a rookie who was optioned to Triple-A at one point in late August. Bassitt, who took over after Fluharty, has been a great story himself.
Bassitt loves to start. He insists that starting pitching is more valuable than relief pitching and you’ll never talk him out of this. He’s old-school and stubborn, but he loves the art of starting and he’ll never let that go. The Blue Jays needed him in the bullpen, though, and the savvy veteran has given them the best surprise of the postseason. After not even cracking the ALDS roster against the Yankees, Bassitt is suddenly a legitimate weapon out of the ‘pen.
“I can’t speak highly enough about [Chris], just getting to know him over the past three years,” Schneider said. “He understands where we are and understands what last night was for everybody. I liked him at that spot of the lineup, too, with the sinker and breaking ball. And he wanted to finish it. It kind of speaks volumes to him as a teammate, as a person.”
Bassitt doesn’t throw 100 mph, but he doesn’t need to. He refuses to even buy into the idea of “maxing out” as a reliever, believing that’s how pitchers get hurt, but he allows himself to say that he’s able to put just a bit more effort into his pitches in short stints. Then, when he takes his foot off the gas for one of those looping, 70 mph curveballs, the hitter is left flailing at empty air.
Bassitt gave the Blue Jays two innings of scoreless ball Tuesday, one night after pitching a scoreless inning in the Game 3 loss. At this point, Bassitt would pitch 50 days in a row for the Blue Jays. He understands the stakes, pitch counts and workloads be damned.
“He’s the man. He runs the kennel out there,” Louis Varland said. “He’s the epitome of ‘Whatever it takes, get it done.’ He’s up for any task, any situation at all.”
Bassitt and Varland are a perfect match, two headstrong relievers who just want to pitch, pitch, pitch.
Varland has pitched in 13 of the Blue Jays’ 15 postseason games, putting him one shy of tying the all-time postseason record (14) held by Brandon Morrow with the Dodgers in 2017 and Paul Assenmacher with the Guardians in 1997. With this Series guaranteed to go at least two more games, that record already has Varland’s name written on it in pencil.
“He’s kind of a different animal,” Schneider said. “It’s not normal to put a guy in as much as I have and have his stuff be consistent. I was talking to [Blue Jays GM] Ross [Atkins] at the [Trade] Deadline. He was one guy that I really wanted to acquire.”
From Fluharty to Bassitt and the nightly airing of the Louis Varland Show, these are the stories this Blue Jays bullpen needs to survive. Fluharty and Varland, in particular, have been leaned on heavily by Schneider for that first move out of the bullpen, Varland often drawing Aaron Judge earlier in this postseason and Fluharty sure to draw the great Ohtani before this Series is over.
These moments are not for the faint of heart.
There aren’t many decisions left to be made, either. The World Series is down to a best-of-three, and each game so far has featured one of these moments in the fifth or sixth inning where it feels like a landslide could begin in either direction. Tuesday night in Los Angeles, Schneider put his trust in all the right places.
