Posts in Major Leagues (MLB)
Whicker: Smith leads Dodgers to World Series win over Jays
Whicker: Smith leads Dodgers to World Series win over Jays

“On many Nov. 1sts to come, our contemporaries and descendants will be trading tales about this Game 7 in Toronto, a night of astonished stares and double-takes and wonderment over what’s next. The ones in Ontario will be obsessed, for a good while, about the many ways the Blue Jays could have won and the inside straights that allowed the Dodgers to.

Will Smith came up in the 11th inning with two out against Shane Bieber. There were two out, nobody on. Bieber tried to be careful, but when you’re careful against Smith and most of the Dodgers, you give up control of the ball-strike count. On 2-and-0 Bieber went to a slider that sat there and waited to become a passenger. Smith’s home run to left field gave the Dodgers a 5-4 lead, their first of the entire game, and eventually gave them their second consecutive World Series championship. No one had done that since the 1999-2000 Yankees, and no National League team had done it since the 1975-76 Big Red Machine from Cincinnati.”

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Toronto Blue Jays, Major Leagues (MLB)Mark Whicker
Whicker: Yesavage dominates Dodgers in Game 5, Blue Jays one win from World Series title
Whicker: Yesavage dominates Dodgers in Game 5, Blue Jays one win from World Series title

“When Game 5 arrived Wednesday, and the local fans settled in to watch the Dodgers impose familiarity, the Blue Jays took the lead before they could text their agents.

Davis Schneider, the 28th-round draft choice who was signed by John Schneider, the unrelated scout who is now his manager, led off because George Springer is hurt. He wasn’t going to let Blake Snell impose his patterns and build his sequence. He let it rip when he saw the fastball coming, and the ball landed in the leftfield stands, a fan catching Snell’s pitch before catcher Will Smith could. Two pitches later, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) did the same thing. The Blue Jays handed a 2-0 lead to a 22-year-old who, 16 months ago, was pitching East Carolina to an NCAA regional upset of Wake Forest. Trey Yesavage had already faced the Dodgers once, without trauma. This time he struck out 12 of them in seven innings and got 23 swings and misses. “

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Major Leagues (MLB), Toronto Blue JaysMark Whicker
Whicker: Dodgers' bullpen picks up phone and slack in Game 3 WS win over Jays
Whicker: Dodgers' bullpen picks up phone and slack in Game 3 WS win over Jays

“Game 3 was like an orphan, or maybe an old CD player left in the yard, for scavengers. Six baserunners were nabbed at second, third or home. The Blue Jays lost a run because home plate Mark Wegner, faced with calling either a ball or a strike on Daulton Varsho, decided to call a ballike or a strall or something in between, and Bo Bichette got picked off because he couldn’t tell.”

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Major Leagues (MLB), Toronto Blue JaysMark Whicker
Whicker: Underdog Jays deliver message to Dodgers with Game 1 rout
Whicker: Underdog Jays deliver message to Dodgers with Game 1 rout

“Questions we never thought we’d ask kept popping up through the artificial garden of Rogers Centre after Game One.

If Alejandro Kirk is going to keep smacking home runs, can the Blue Jays get him a Home Run Jacket that fits?

Can Freddie Freeman, last year’s World Series MVP and perhaps the steadiest hitter in baseball, remember how?

Should we scout the Dunedin Blue Jays and other Florida State League teams to find the featured pitcher in next year’s World Series?

There were others, but only 24 hours ago the only question was if the Dodgers’ parade route would be kept secret, the better to frustrate ICE agents. Now that Toronto has thrashed the Dodgers, 11-4, nobody is sure of anything. It’s worth noting that Yoshihuru Yamamoto pitched a complete game last time out, and is working Game Two for the Dodgers, and a team with a lifetime of postseason experiences should have little trouble clearing its head. But it’s more about the Blue Jays, and their unwillingness to serve as the scenery. “

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Toronto Blue Jays, Major Leagues (MLB)Mark WhickerMost Popular
Glew: Freeman vs. Guerrero Jr. in 2025 World Series
Glew: Freeman vs. Guerrero Jr. in 2025 World Series

This year’s World Series, which begins tonight at 8 p.m. E.T. at Rogers Centre, will feature the Toronto Blue Jays and ALCS MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) facing off against reigning World Series MVP Freddie Freeman and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Canadian Baseball Network editor Kevin Glew provides a rundown of the Canadian content on the Blue Jays and Dodgers.

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Canadians in the Majors, Major Leagues (MLB)Kevin Glew
Whicker: Brewers-Dodgers, a David Goliath NLCS and David owns home field advantage
Whicker: Brewers-Dodgers, a David Goliath NLCS and David owns home field advantage

“Seven years ago the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers were in this same place.

The National League Championship Series would start in Milwaukee. Those Brewers had Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader on the mound. Christian Yelich was the Most Valuable Player. Ryan Braun was a former MVP. Lorenzo Cain was a state-of-the-art centre fielder.

In no way were they underdogs.”

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Major Leagues (MLB), Toronto Blue JaysMark Whicker
UPDATED: And then there were four, a look at the Canadians left in MLB postseason
UPDATED: And then there were four, a look at the Canadians left in MLB postseason

It’s likely the most Canadian American League Championship Series ever.

The Toronto Blue Jays and their Montreal-born slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will face Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) and Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) and the rest of the Seattle Mariners starting tonight at 8 p.m. E.T.

Here’s a rundown of the Canadian content on the four teams left in this year’s MLB postseason.

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Canadians in the Majors, Major Leagues (MLB)Kevin Glew