Soaring Blue Jays and struggling Dodgers face duelling pressures in Game 6 of World Series
CBC
Both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers are facing pressures ahead of Game 6 of the World Series tonight. But after something of a reversal of fortunes, it's the Dodgers who are fighting to stay alive, while the Jays see a chance to write their storybook ending.
With a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, Canada's team is just one win away from securing its first championship in more than three decades, while the heavily favoured Dodgers now face the possibility of elimination.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider says his ballclub is eager to take its swing at a World Series title in front of a home crowd at Toronto's Rogers Centre.
"Whenever you start a spring training, this is kind of where where you want to end up," Schneider said Thursday. "This is the story of the 2025 Blue Jays. Pretty cool."
Game 6 will see Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman match up against the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The two last faced each other in Game 2, when Yamamoto pitched a complete game, and the Dodgers won 5-1.
However, the Jays skipper may be downplaying the pressure his team is under to deliver a championship for a Canadian fanbase hungry for World Series glory.
Yet fans, analysts and even the Dodgers themselves, now seem to believe that the real pressure is on Los Angeles, a storied ballclub on the brink of post-season elimination.
"We've got to find a way to win one game," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday.
To repeat their World Series title, the Dodgers must beat the Blue Jays twice in a row at Rogers Centre. That could be difficult, given Toronto's strong record when playing at home this season.
Baseball writer Ken Rosenthal says the struggling Dodgers must pull off back-to-back wins in Toronto, a city where fans are "eagerly and loudly anticipating the team’s first World Series title since 1993. "
Jays superfan Lesley Mak says the team has some cushion as there are two games left where they could win it all.
"And they will win it all," she said via email. "Because they're the better team."
The players have a lot to say about how close they are to winning it all, but acknowledge that there's still work to be done.
"There's seven games for a reason, you gotta win four of them," Davis Schneider told reporters after their 6-1 Game 5 win over the Dodgers Wednesday.
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