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?
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