It’s fitting that the saying “it’s always darkest before the dawn” may have been uttered at 2:50 A.M. Eastern time on Tuesday morning, after the Blue Jays had just lost a gruelling six-hour thirty-nine-minute affair in the World Series. Instead of holding on to take a 2-1 series lead, the Jays saw Game 3 slip away and witnessed the momentum swing in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ favour.

It would’ve been easy to write off the Blue Jays’ chances right then, considering George Springer — one of their most important players — left the game at the top of the seventh inning with an oblique injury. Things looked bleak for the Blue Jays.

Then they won the next two games and now have the chance to win a World Series on home soil in Toronto.

For the first time since Game 3 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees (which was over three weeks ago, by the way), the Blue Jays hold a lead in the series with the chance to finish this thing off.

After splitting the first two games of the World Series at home, the common sentiment was: “Just get the series back to Toronto.” That they did, but could anyone have imagined it would be with the Blue Jays leading the series 3-2? Especially after how soul-crushing and exhausting Game 3 was, it’s wild how things can change in 48 hours.

This might be unfamiliar territory for Toronto sports as a whole, but this isn’t foreign to this Blue Jays team in 2025. They overcame adversity. They have 55 comeback wins on the season; 49 during the regular season and six during the playoffs.

In previous years, it wasn’t unusual for the Blue Jays to surrender runs early and look dead the rest of the game. It wasn’t unfamiliar for them to go down by three runs early on and to write the script for how it would play out. But this 2025 Blue Jays team seems to kick it into high gear once they see the opposition score a run or two in the early frames.

Game 5 was the Trey Yesavage show, putting forth one of the single greatest postseason pitching performances in Blue Jays history. By the Game Score metric, it was the second-best start by a Blue Jay ever in the playoffs, but given the stakes and that it’s the World Series, you could easily convince people to declare it was number one all-time.

It’s only Game 6, but this World Series has already taken several twists and turns throughout the first five games. The overpowering offense by the Blue Jays in Game 1, the dominance of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, the 18-inning affair of Game 3, Shane Bieber stepping up in Game 4 and Yesavage’s aforementioned strikeout party in Game 5.

Facing Yamamoto’s hulking presence in Game 6 again — someone who has been the best starting pitcher in the postseason thus far — is the true litmus test for the Blue Jays. If they can solve him, a pitcher who has hurled two consecutive complete games in the playoffs, they deserve to win.

Let’s keep in mind that the Blue Jays have faced the best pitchers throughout October and have excelled on the grandest stage. They touched up guys like Max Fried and Carlos Rodon in the ALDS. They lit up George Kirby and chased Luis Castillo early in the ALCS. The Blue Jays also took care of Blake Snell twice and Tyler Glasnow in the World Series.

I’m not sure if George Springer spent the last 24 hours regenerating his oblique in a Lazarus pit, but he’s likely to return to the lineup tonight. Bo Bichette isn’t fully healthy and is only station-to-station on the base paths. At this point in the season, it feels like Toronto’s lineup is being held together by masking tape and popsicle sticks, but the Blue Jays make it work.

It’s wild that it’s come to Game 6 of the World Series to realize this, but the Blue Jays are still somehow underrated and unheralded in some spheres. Many are still wondering how the hell they even got this far, when most are familiar with this team understand it was always in the Blue Jays’ DNA.

Surely, there are many south of the 49th parallel who are stunned at the position the Dodgers are in right now, figuring it would be a clean sweep by the defending champions. The Dodgers get inherent respect because they’re a perennial contender, but no one should’ve ever slept on the Blue Jays.

It’s hard to describe the energy surrounding the Blue Jays heading into Game 6. It’s nervousness, it’s excitement, but it’s also a realization that this will all be over soon. There can only be three scenarios left: the Blue Jays win in six or seven games, or the Dodgers win in seven. That’s all that’s left. One team will taste supreme victory, and the other will taste bitter defeat.

Toronto still has two more cracks at this, with Kevin Gausman on the mound in Game 6 and likely Max Scherzer for Game 7, if necessary. However, unlike Game 7 of the ALCS against the Mariners, this doesn’t feel like a coin flip anymore. There isn’t an “aw shucks, we almost made it” mindset.

When you’re this close to making history, to borrow a wrestling term from Cody Rhodes, you need to finish the story.

For the first time this postseason, the Blue Jays are no longer playing with house money. Nobody’s just happy to be here or to have the opportunity to play another game. They’re playing to win this whole damn thing. The Blue Jays are on the doorstep of something special. Now, it’s time to step through.