After taking two of three from the Dodgers in L.A., the Blue Jays earned a chance to win their third World Series in franchise history tonight in front of their home fans. 

The Blue Jays were 54-27 at home during the regular season and are 5-3 at home during the postseason. The Dodgers, on the other hand, were 41-40 as the road team this season, but they’ve posted a 5-1 mark on the road this postseason.

In somewhat poetic fashion, the Blue Jays are handing the ball to Kevin Gausman tonight, one of the key cogs of their rotation since he arrived north of the border in 2022. Gausman posted his sixth consecutive regular season with a sub-4.00 ERA, and he’s had a fantastic postseason to this point. Through five playoff starts, Gausman has posted a 2.55 ERA, 18 strikeouts, and nine walks through 24 2/3 innings. 

His most recent start was against these Dodgers last weekend in Game 2 when he pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs, six strikeouts, and no walks. After allowing an RBI single in the first inning to Will Smith, Gausman settled in nicely and pitched five straight scoreless frames, including a streak of 17 consecutive batters retired. Unfortunately, the Dodgers got to him in the 7th inning, with Smith and Max Muncy both hitting solo homers against Gausman and ending his night.

Smith, Muncy, and Freddie Freeman were the only three Dodgers to record a hit against Gausman during Game 2, despite the latter two entering that game with average-to-below-average career numbers against the veteran righty. Gausman limited the damage against Shohei Ohtani, who now has a 2-for-15 stat line against him for his career. 

The time has never been better for Mookie Betts to turn around the narrative surrounding his postseason. Betts has hit .296 /.356/.481 against Gausman in 54 career at-bats, but he’s running a 3-for-23 line with no extra-base hits and five strikeouts through five World Series games.

Gausman will be seeing a shuffled lineup from what he faced last weekend. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts moved Smith up to the two-spot during Wednesday night’s game and has done so again tonight. He’s also brought Miguel Rojas in at second base, which moves Tommy Edman out to centre field. Alex Call and Andy Pages had been struggling at the plate, so getting Rojas in the batting order makes sense with L.A.’s season on the line.

The task is tall for the Dodgers, but tonight’s task will arguably be just as tall for the Blue Jays as they face Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who tossed a one-run complete game in Game 2.

After posting a 2.49 ERA through 30 regular-season starts, Yamamoto has been one of L.A.’s most valuable players during the playoffs. He’s struck out 26 batters versus just four walks over 28 2/3 innings, and his complete game the other night was his second consecutive such performance. 

Yamamoto allowed just four hits during Game 2, with three of them coming between the first three innings. He had an enormously sweat-free night, with no Blue Jay reaching base after the third inning. That was his first time facing almost all of the Blue Jays hitters in his career, so hopefully, another handful of at-bats are what the Blue Jays need to make the necessary adjustments.

Yamamoto’s splitter was his most-used pitch last week, sitting at 91.4 mph throughout the night and generating six whiffs, five called strikes, and no hits. Yamamoto mainly threw it to lefties while giving righties more curveballs and sliders. He didn’t lose much gas on the fastball, as his heater maintained velocities between 95 and 97 mph through the duration of his outing.  

Responsible for one of the hits against Yamamoto was George Springer, who finds himself back in the lineup after missing Games 4 and 5 of this series with right side discomfort. Springer slots back into his leadoff role while also serving as the designated hitter, meaning Bo Bichette will get the start at second base. Beyond Bichette, the rest of the lineup is business as usual for the Blue Jays when facing a right-handed starter.

Location: Rogers Centre – Toronto, ON

First Pitch: 8:00 PM EST

Watch/Listen: FOX, Sportsnet / ESPN Radio, Sportsnet 590 The Fan

Toronto Blue Jays – Kevin Gausman: 2-2 record, 2.55 ERA, 24 2/3 IP, 18 SO, 9 BB

Los Angeles Dodgers – Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 3-1 record, 1.57 ERA, 28 2/3 IP, 26 SO, 4 BB