The Toronto Blue Jays are fueling energy not felt inside the city since 1993. They're sparked World Series chatter once again. But face a deep Los Angeles Dodgers pitching rotation soon in the Blue Jays' first October classic in 32 years.
The likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and the rest of the hitting lineup will counter the deepest hill lineup yet. Awaiting them are Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw and now Roki Sasaki as the closer.
The Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners hit Game 7 series for ratings. But now many baseball fans already believe the Dodgers hold the upper hand via the mound. Not many are giving the American League champs a chance against a team gunning for back-to-back titles.
Except a former baseball talent believes Toronto can figure out the elite pitching rotation in L.A., dropping this deep explanation.
Who believes Blue Jays can figure out Dodgers pitchers?
Trevor Plouffe detailed why the underdog can counter Yamamoto to Sasaki.
“I think they have a mixture of a bunch of different good offensive attributes,” Plouffe shared on the Baseball Today podcast with Chris Rose. “They have guys who are going to put the ball in play. We've known that all season long and that's been their M.O.”
Plouffe additionally likes the order John Schneider created during MLB Playoffs.
“These guys have been putting together good at-bats,” Plouffe said. “So I think when you're a starting pitcher and you don't see the free three outs somewhere, that starts to creep into your mind: More stressful pitches can lead into mistakes.”
But here's where Plouffe believes the AL winners bring their own advantage against L.A.
“These guys are coming in absolutely blazing hot,” Plouffe said. “Springer in the postseason has .929 OPS. Vladdy has 1.400. Daulton Varsho is at 800.”
Plouffe doesn't believe Toronto will “do what they want” with the Dodgers' starting pitching. Yet added “I do think they have a better shot than those other teams because of that, mostly because they're coming in hot.”
Both hosts agreed that Toronto is capable of forcing Dave Roberts to really manage his pitchers — which he hasn't needed to do much during the postseason run.
