Nothing is off-limits in a Game 7 scenario.
The Toronto Blue Jays are one win away from their first championship in 32 years, a win they came painfully close to getting on Friday night. But there was no time to dwell on Ernie Clement’s and Andrés Giménez’s at-bats in the bottom of the ninth inning, because the winner-take-all game against the Los Angeles Dodgers was slated to begin about 21 hours later.
Toronto seized control of the series briefly because rookie sensation Trey Yesavage put on a masterclass at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday. Yesavage now has nearly double the career innings thrown in the playoffs (26) than the regular season (14), and because he’s had two days to rest, he might be called upon to throw more with the Blue Jays’ season on the line.
But if you’ve seen the 22-year-old pitch at any point during this playoff run, you’ll know nothing is likely to rattle him. And Yesavage gave a predictable, emphatic answer when asked on Friday night if he’d like to pitch again on Saturday.
“Hell, yeah,” Yesavage said, per Tyler Kepner of The Athletic. “That’d be great. (Saturday) would be my bullpen day. (So) if it lines up and the people that make the decision think that it’s a good idea for the team, then I’m all for it.”
Yesavage is 3-1 with a 3.46 ERA in his five playoff starts, but the truly impressive number is 39. That’s how many strikeouts he’s racked up in his 26 innings (13.5 K/9, for the mathematically inclined), including punching out 12 batters in his sensational seven-inning outing in Game 5.
Already, Yesavage has surpassed any reasonable expectations that could have been set when he got the call-up to the majors in mid-September. He began the year as a first-round pick with no professional innings under his belt yet. He could end it on the mound, looking to get some of the decisive outs in arguably the biggest game in Blue Jays franchise history.
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