TORONTO — Jeff Hoffman walked to his locker in the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse as a group of reporters and cameras waited for him. There was an ice pack strapped to his right shoulder and the closer asked for a moment so he could remove it and change shirts before beginning his post-game interview.
“I’m literally frozen,” Hoffman said.
Given the heavy lifting Hoffman did on Sunday night at Rogers Centre, a cryogenic freezer would’ve been a more fitting aid to his recovery process.
The right-hander stamped an exclamation mark on the Blue Jays’ 6-2 win over the Seattle Mariners that sent the American League Championship Series to a winner-take-all Game 7. Hoffman tossed a no-hit, scoreless eighth and ninth innings while striking out four of the seven batters he faced. He was in dominant form, registering eight whiffs while throwing a season-high 35 pitches, the most he’s delivered in a game since June of 2022.
“That may have been the best I’ve seen him,” said Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland, who provided 1.1 innings in relief of starter Trey Yesavage. “He really stepped up when the team needed him and got it done.”
Hoffman entered the contest in the eighth to face the heart of the Mariners’ lineup — Cal Raleigh, Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor. It was the exact same pocket of hitters who were due up in the eighth frame of Game 5, when the Blue Jays were clinging to a 2-1 lead at T-Mobile Park.
You know that happened then. Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider opted to use left-hander Brendon Little, who surrendered a game-tying home run before walking two batters. Seranthony Domínguez replaced him and ultimately allowed a grand slam to Eugenio Suarez, prompting Schneider to face plenty of criticism and questions about the decision to not use his closer.
Schneider was asked following Sunday’s win if the plan was always to deploy Hoffman for two innings should the Blue Jays be leading.
“Yes,” Schneider replied.
Hoffman, with his dominant performance, helped soften some of the existing narrative surrounding the manager’s bullpen usage. The urge for critics to bemoan the topic was lessened by the fact that Schneider got it right on Sunday.
“There’s so many decisions that are made all year long and, of course, when one doesn’t go right late in the year like this, everybody’s gonna have something to say,” Hoffman said. “But, the reality of it is, we got a team full of 26 guys and every single one of them has contributed this year. And that’s why decisions are made to use certain guys in certain times.
“That one didn’t work out,” continued Hoffman. “But there were going to be more decisions made tonight and they were going to work out. That’s what happened.”
Schneider, for his part, has maintained that he’s unbothered by outside opinions.
“I could care less what people think about me other than in my clubhouse,” he said while sitting in front of the microphone during his pre-game media availability. “I’ve said this a lot this year — I think you just have to be very prepared, very convicted in the decision, trust the people around you that have helped get to this point. You make a decision, you move on. I’ve lost plenty of sleep over the last couple years about things that haven’t gone right and I don’t gain sleep when things do go right.
“You realize this is the position you’re in and you’re trying to do what’s right by the group.”
Where that group currently stands is on the precipice of something special, one win away from their first World Series berth since 1993. Shane Bieber will take the ball for the Blue Jays against Mariners’ right-hander George Kirby in Monday’s 8:08 p.m. ET contest. (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+).
Hoffman, who’s allowed one run on three hits over 6.1 innings with nine strikeouts during the post-season, said his arm feels “great” and that he’ll be ready to go for Game 7, adding that he expects the same from all his teammates.
“If you’re not, I don’t know if you have a pulse,” said Hoffman. “This is why we do it. To have an opportunity like this, to do something special. I’m pretty sure everybody will be fighting to get on the field tomorrow.”
Said Schneider: “Yeah, everyone’s available tomorrow. Biebs is obviously starting, so that takes him out of the equation in the bullpen, but every single person that is active on our roster will be available to play tomorrow.”
