Blue Jays fans hearts to be tested one last time as Dodgers force winner-take-all for World Series

Even baseball fans who were in ‘92 and ‘93 have never seen this: the Toronto Blue Jays will play a seventh, winner-take-all Game 7 for the World Series for the first time ever — and while hope remains high, you can feel the city’s blood pressure rising.

Despite a solid start from Kevin Gausman and a  promising rally late in the game, the Blue Jays missed their first chance to clinch the series in Game 6 Friday, losing 3-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It’s been an exciting October, but the dramatic wins and losses, high nerves and late game times are taking a toll on some Jays fans, like Maria Havelka, who was at the city’s downtown watch party at Nathan Phillips Square for Game 6.

“It was so disappointing. I was out here six hours in the cold. We expected to at least tie the game,” she said, bemoaning the Blue Jays inability to get the tying run home from second base with nobody out in the last inning.

But Havelka, like several other fans CBC Toronto spoke with at Friday’s watch party, said she’s keeping the faith.

“We’re going to fight back. We always have. We’re going to win it,” she said. “I believe with all my heart that we’re going to win tomorrow and we’re going to blow the Dodgers out of the ballpark.”

Game 6 was another thrilling matchup in what is likely to go down as one of the best World Series of the past decade, if not this century.

All the game's runs were scored in the 3rd inning. The Dodgers scored three times on hits from catcher Will Smith and shortstop Mookie Betts, while the Jays' lone run was pushed across on a single from George Springer, who returned to the lineup for the first time since what some thought was a season-ending injury in Game 3.

It was the only blip for the starters, L.A.'s Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Toronto's Kevin Gausman, though the Blue Jays would have multiple chances to score as the game went on, including right at the end.

In the ninth inning, it appeared for a moment that the “power of friendship” — the Blue Jays’ secret weapon, according to infielder Ernie Clement — was destined to prevail. 

The Blue Jays led off the last inning with Alejandro Kirk reaching base after he was plunked on the hand. Then, Addison Barger hit a bizarre double on a ball that lodged itself between the outfield wall and the turf. That put the tying run on second, and the winning run at home plate, with no outs.

But hot-hitting Ernie Clement popped out on the first pitch he saw. Then Barger got caught with some poor baserunning, getting doubled up at second after Andres Gimenez lined out to shallow left field.

And that was it for Game 6.

Jays fan Mackenzie Barwell summed it up simply: “Just disappointing.”