At this stage of the 2025 World Series, Blue Jays fans are well aware that the city of Toronto could have been — and maybe should have been —planning for an epic homecoming victory parade to take place this weekend.
Game three was an exhausting marathon that better resembled a heated cricket final than a World Series baseball game. It absolutely could have gone either way.
If not for a couple of early blunders, courtesy of some tardy and sloppy umpiring, and questionable baserunning decisions, the World Series might have concluded last night.
The Blue Jays would have sealed a dominant and decisive championship by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Any player, analyst, or fan will attest to the fact that the Jays are in the driver’s seat right now, heading home for game six. Historically speaking, “The Six” owns game six.
In 1992, Mike Timlin fielded an attempted drag bunt from the Atlanta Braves’ Otis Nixon in the bottom of the ninth, and tossed the ball to Joe Carter, who was filling in at first base for John Olerud.
The Jays rushed the field in Atlanta’s Fulton County Coliseum after the final out in game six, to celebrate being crowned World Series champs for the first time in franchise history.
In ’93, those who are old enough to remember Blue Jays’ radio announcer Tom Cheek holler “touch ’em all Joe”, might still get goosebumps when recalling Carter’s walkoff home run, off of Phillies closer Mitch Williams. The Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series at home in six games, most dramatically and triumphantly.
More recently, six years ago, in 2019, during game six of the NBA finals at Oakland’s Oracle Arena, Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, and a deeply talented Toronto Raptors team took down the mighty Golden State Warriors.
The Raptors’ first NBA championship swept through the city like an electric current. Toronto was entering the conversation as the epicentre of pro sports—a winning sports city.
The confidence of this Blue Jays team should be at an all-time high, right now, as the team heads home for game six, especially following last night’s historic performance from phenom right-hander Trey Yesavage.
But going all in, here in “The Six”, for game six might not be the right play.
Jays’ ace Kevin Gausman will take the ball in a sequel matchup from game two. He pitched well in that game. His counterpart, Dodger ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was better, shoving a complete game, 4-hitter for the win.
An all-in scenario for this game six instalment would involve Chris Bassitt coming into the game following Gausman’s five, or hopefully six, innings of work. Bassitt has been brilliant in this role for the duration of the postseason.
His performance should come as no surprise, given the veteran Jays’ starter’s regular-season stats at home.
C-Bass thrives in the moment. He lives for it. That is why the decision to leave him as a potential game seven starter might be the right play and decision by Jays’ manager John Schneider.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider is holding a winning hand. The Jays’ defence, hitting, baserunning, and overall baseball instincts have been nothing short of elite for most of this memorable World Series. The play to go all in would be to use his newly assigned bullpen weapon, Chris Bassitt, in a relief role in game six and possibly seven. The other, perhaps more passive decision, is to leave Bassitt as the potential game seven starter.
This might be the best option, as Max Scherzer has contributed wonderfully to this Blue Jays team’s postseason efforts, but it is hard to imagine that his run of recent quality starts does not have an expiration date. The decision is a difficult one. “The Six” might own game six, but they might be best to leave Bassitt as their penciled-in starter for game seven.
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