TORONTO (AP) — A day before playing for a World Series title, Davis Schneider went barefoot in the park.
Toronto players arrived at Rogers Centre at about 8 a.m. Thursday after a red-eye flight from Los Angeles that followed their 6-1 win over the Dodgers. By late afternoon, Schneider was ambling about the nearly empty ballpark, which will be filled to capacity Friday night with fans hungering to witness Toronto's first title since 1993. He wore a tank
top and ski cap, with no shoes.
“Walking around the outfield, get a feel of the grass, or turf I should say,” he explained. “I try to do that every single day, just walk around and get my body going.”
Schneider's home run on Blake Snell's first pitch launched Toronto to Wednesday's victory that gave it a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven matchup. While for Games 1 and 2 last week Schneider had one of the 55 rooms with a view of the field at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel, he was given regular lodging when he checked back in.
Addison Barger, the teammate who slept on Schneider's sofa bed during the first leg, didn't remain his roomie this weekend.
“He has the money to get his own room,” Schneider quipped. “He could have stayed, but he didn’t.”
Heavily favored Los Angeles is seeking to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees won three in a row. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Friday for the Dodgers and Kevin Gausman for the Blue Jays in a rematch of Game 2.
Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer appeared set to return for the first time since hurting his right side while swinging in Game 3.
Yamamoto pitched a four-hitter for the first World Series complete game since 2015 and has thrown the first consecutive postseason complete games since Curt Schilling tossed three in a row in 2001.
“It did give me a certain level of confidence, but now my mind is reset and then just focusing on the new game,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.
Gausman matched him until the seventh inning, when Will Smith and Max Muncy hit solo homers for a 3-1 lead.
“Rogers Centre is going to be fun. It’s going to be electric,” Gausman said. “It’s going to be everything that it has been for the last month and probably more.”
Toronto had three days off after a seven-game American League Championship Series win over Seattle and the Dodgers six days off after sweeping Milwaukee for the National League pennant.
Since the LCS expanded to best-of-seven in 1985, all four prior teams advancing from seven-game LCS defeated pennant winners who emerged from sweeps: the 1988 Dodgers (two days off) against Oakland (five), the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (one) vs. Detroit (six), the 2007 Boston Red Sox (two) against Colorado (eight) and the 2012 San Francisco Giants (one) against the Tigers (five).
Manager Dave Roberts wouldn't say the layoff caused a hitting slump.
“Even if it was, I wouldn’t say it was,” he said with a smile.
After three games at sunny Dodger Stadium, where the game-time temperature Wednesday was 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius), the Series moved back to Toronto, a city framed by tree leaves that had turned to autumn red, orange and yellow. The roof was closed for Thursday’s workout — it was raining outside with a 46-degree temperature (7 Celsius).
Blue Jays manager John Schneider watched “Den of Thieves” on the flight, drank a beer, then hopped into the cold tub by the Blue Jays clubhouse.
“A little cold plunge to kind of get you going a little bit,” he said. “It didn’t work.”
Shohei Ohtani will try to shake off a cold bat. After reaching base nine times in Game 3 on four extra-base hits and five walks, he was 0 for 7 with a walk in the Dodgers' last two losses.
“We’re locating better and kind of giving him different looks, different pitch types, different velocities, different locations,” John Schneider said.
Dodgers players arrived about 7 a.m. while staff stayed in LA overnight and traveled Thursday. Roberts said while Thursday's workout was voluntary, every player attended.
With his team hitting .201 against the Blue Jays, Roberts is considering more lineup changes. He dropped Mookie Betts to third in the batting order in Game 5 and benched center fielder Andy Pages.
“I’m contemplating, but I’m still kind of up in the air,” he said.
He also would consider using Ohtani as an opener, reliever or outfielder in a Game 7.
Most Blue Jays didn't take the field, and players throwing were outnumbered by their children pitching to each other by the warning track.
Encouraged by the kids, John Schneider made dozens of attempts to throw a baseball to a person on the third-highest level of the hotel’s four floors overlooking the field, about 150 feet up. When he finally succeeded, Schneider raised his arms in triumph, then collapsed in mock exhaustion.
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