TORONTO — Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero walked in the corridor Friday night of the Rogers Centre with a few friends, greeted a familiar face, and simply uttered: “Game 7.’
He spread his hands out, exhaled, and shook his head.
Guerrero played in only one World Series in his 16 year-career and never won a title, and his son Vladimir Jr. has a chance to go where he never went, playing in Game 7 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night after losing 3-1 in Game 6.
The Blue Jays are now going to have to do it the hard way – with Shohei Ohtani officially announced Sunday as the Game 7 starter.
The original plan was for Tyler Glasnow to start, but he came on in the ninth of Game 6 after rookie Rōki Sasaki tired, and closed out the game.
“That was pretty cool,’ Glasnow said, producing the first save of this World Series.
It now sets the magical stage for Ohtani, who saved the World Series Baseball Classic for Team Japan, win he struck out Angels teammate Mike Trout to end win the gold medal.
Neither team has much Game 7 experience, with the Blue Jays never playing a Game 7 while the Dodgers lost their last seven-game World Series in 2017 against the Houston Astros.
“It’s going to be electric here,’ Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
“We had our chances with guys on base kind of as the game went on. But we’re going to be ready to play [Saturday]. Everyone’s going to be ready to play. I expect them to be playing cards around 1:00 p.m., kind of shooting the [stuff] with everyone. It’s going to be fun here. But to the fans. See you [Saturday] night. Be loud, be rowdy. We’re going to be ready to play.’
If they had their druthers, of course, the series would already be over. But Yoshinobu Yamamoto never gave them a chance. He gave up just five hits and one run in six innings, with their bullpen hanging on for dear life, and even using Glasnow, who originally was expected to start Game 7.
That honor now goes to Ohtani.
Ohtani has never pitched on three days’ rest in his MLB career, but this is the World Series.
“This is Game 7, so there’s a lot of things that people haven’t done,’ Roberts said. “You’ve just got to trust your players and try to win a baseball game.
What’s another Ohtani super-human feat to go down in the history books?
“We’re going to leave it out there,’ Roberts said. “I don’t think that the pressure, the moment’s going to be too big for us. We got to go out there and win one baseball game. We’ve done that all year. Everyone’s bought in. So I don’t know how the game’s going to play out, but as far as kind of the moment, winning a game, I couldn’t be more excited to get to sleep and wake up to play a baseball game.’
Game 7, there’s nothing like it.
‘It’s going to be three or four or five hours of mayhem and great baseball,’ Schneider said. “These guys are going to be ready for it. Hopefully they get to slow some things down but enjoy it.
“It’s Game 7 of the World Series at your home stadium. I mean, what the hell else do you want?’
This story was updated with new information.