TORONTO — Game 7 never gets old. Nor does it ever fail to humble even the greatest players to grace the October stage.
Max Scherzer is about to embark on his 11th winner-take-all game in his storied major league career, and in the moments after his Toronto Blue Jays kept their season alive with a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, his mental record book was whirring, taking him back to his playoff debut as a 26-year-old all the way through the two World Series championships he’s netted in the past six years.
“God, another one,” says Scherzer, stomping a bit and shaking his head, as is his wont. “I’m just walking around, going through all my Game 7s, my Game 5s, elimination games, last day, all these moments and you remember all of them.
“To get another one? My gosh. These are just so special, so hard to get to, that to get another crack at it – this is what you live for.”
Scherzer kept private what he plans to impart to his mates, but it will be experience borne of seven Division Series Game 5s, one wild card game, an ALCS Game 7 and of course, Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, when Scherzer started the clincher for the Washington Nationals two days after getting scratched from a start due to a debilitating neck malady.
And that’s exactly the sort of sacrifice the Mariners and Blue Jays expect up and down the roster in what should be a titillating evening of baseball at Rogers Centre.
Let’s take a peek inside the latest installment of baseball’s ultimate win-or-go-home drama:
Who’s available? Everybody
In the hours between the Blue Jays’ crushing Game 5 loss to Seattle and their Game 6 revival, closer Jeff Hoffman was chatting with his wife about what might be expected of him the next two nights.
“We were talking about the potential of me throwing multiple innings today, or maybe tomorrow, or maybe both. Who knows what it will call for?” says Hoffman, who in fact threw two near-perfect innings in Game 6, striking out four of the seven batters he faced.
“She asked me, ‘Are you good to do that?’ And it’s like, there’s no choice. You’re good to do it. If that’s what the team needs you to do, you go out and do it and worry about tomorrow the next day.”
With that in mind, both clubs are in decent shape. The Blue Jays did burn Hoffman for two innings and set-up man Louis Varland for four outs, but stayed away from fireballing Seranthony Dominguez, who should be available for an extended stint in Game 7.
The Mariners used top set-up man Matt Brash for an inning and Eduard Bazardo for two. But lefty Gabe Speier got a needed night off and closer Andres Muñoz did not pitch. He will almost certainly be called upon for multiple innings if the Mariners hold a late lead or – egad! – the game goes extra innings.
In short: Relievers are already built to pitch until their arms come off – and both units are in good shape.
All hands on deck
There’s nothing that makes the heart jump in an elimination game than a starter warming up in the bullpen. And both Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber and Mariners counterpart George Kirby will have a troika of veterans behind them.
Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo will all be available behind Kirby, who gave up eight runs in his Game 3 start.
As for the Blue Jays, Scherzer, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt are all available to provide length if Bieber hits the wall early. Or, to put out a fire as needed.
“If you like postseason baseball, this is what it’s all about,” says Gausman. “You might see Max Scherzer in the fifth inning. You might see me later in the game. This is kind of what it is.
“As a player, this is what we want. We’ve all been grinding since Feb. 1st, even before then, so now we win one game, we’re going to the World Series.”
Managerial mindsets
Game 6 was a balm for Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose decision to deploy inconsistent lefty Brendon Little in Game 5 blew up and put his club in a win-or-go-home stance.
Now, the mental edge may have shifted, what with the Blue Jays having already stared down their mortality.
Heck, Schneider himself sounds like a dude who just got a stay of execution.
“It’s pretty frickin’ cool that we are where we are. I’m not going to lie,” he said after Game 6. “You got to keep your foot on the gas and get ready for tomorrow.
This is what we sign up for. Whenever you can play for Game 7 to go to the World Series, it sounds kind of cool to say it, you know. But this is why we sacrifice everything. It’s why players sacrifice everything.
“This team, this group of men, are special. You never know where the journey’s going lead. It leads to a Game 7 in the ALCS and that’s frickin’ awesome.
“Again, man, when spring training starts, and you say, hey, you got one game to win to go to the World Series, you take that every single time.”
For the record, that’s two “frickins” and one “cool” and “awesome” apiece.
How about you, Seattle manager Dan Wilson?
“So we’ll make our adjustments offensively tomorrow, and we’ll be ready to go Game 7,” he said after a night the club grounded into double plays in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
“I mean, this is the time to make those adjustments and baseball’s a game of adjustments, and they will be able to do that tomorrow night and ready to go.”
Vibe check? Advantage, Blue Jays.
Heavy history
Both clubs were born in 1977. Yet the Mariners have never played in a Game 7.
Toronto has a more storied history, with consecutive World Series titles in 1992 and ’93. Yet it’s been 40 years since they’ve played a Game 7, when they blew a 3-1 lead to the Kansas City Royals in the 1985 ALCS.
The ALCS has been an unkind hurdle to both clubs the past quarter-century. Toronto lost in six games to Kansas City in 2015 and five games to Cleveland in 2016, while Seattle succumbed to the New York Yankees in 2000 and 2001.
They’d never been one game away from a World Series in their history, until Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam won them Game 5. They’re still waiting, and now must contend with what could be an evenly-matched and excruciating Game 7 for both squads.