Dodgers aim to capitalize on home-field advantage against Blue Jays

The Los Angeles Dodgers have the Toronto Blue Jays right where they want them in the World Series — at home for three games in three days.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers have the Toronto Blue Jays right where they want them in the World Series — at home for three games in three days.

Tied 1-1, the best-of-seven series resumes Monday night, when the Dodgers will be backed by their raucous fans in a bid to become the first team to win consecutive championships since the New York Yankees won three from 1998-2000.

The Dodgers beat the Yankees in New York last year for their eighth World Series title. The only one they won at home was at Dodger Stadium in 1963.

Twenty hours after walking off the field under the closed roof at Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays worked out at Dodger Stadium on Sunday under hazy skies that obscured the San Gabriel Mountains. They arrived at their hotel at 4 a.m.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t make it to the stadium until 5 p.m. after flight delays.

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer starts Game 3 for the Blue Jays at 41 years, 82 days. They’re hoping he can replicate his outing in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, when Scherzer held the Seattle Mariners to two runs over 5 2/3 innings.

“Obviously, with age, you don’t have the same stuff. I know they don’t have the same leash on him as he used to have,” Roberts said. “But, man, he’s still a great competitor. It’s still going to be a tough test for us regardless because he wants to beat us really bad.”

Dodger fans have their own memory of Scherzer, and it’s not a good one. Scheduled to start for Los Angeles in Game 6 of the 2021 NLCS, he was a late scratch because of arm fatigue. The Dodgers lost to the Atlanta Braves that night and were eliminated.