Shohei Ohtani to start World Series Game 7 for Dodgers against Blue Jays and Max Scherzer

Audio By Carbonatix

TORONTO (AP) — Dave Roberts needed few words to tell Shohei Ohtani he was starting baseball's biggest game: Game 7 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Shohei, we don’t have long conversations,” the Dodgers manager said Saturday, 2 1/2 hours before the final game of the year.

Max Scherzer was slated to be on the mound for Toronto, only the fourth pitcher to start multiple winner-take-all Game 7s. The Dodgers were trying to become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees and the Blue Jays were hoping for their first title since 1993.

Ohtani is batting .318 in the World Series with three homers, five RBIs and eight walks. The unprecedented two-way star is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA after striking out six and walking one in his Game 4 start, when he threw 93 pitches.

His only prior outing on three days’ rest was on April 21, 2017, when he allowed two hits over seven innings and struck out 11 in a 2-0 win over Kansas City. His start at Boston on April 17 was cut short by a rain delay after two innings and 31 pitches.

Every other major league start by Ohtani has been with five or six or more days' rest.

“As far as innings, not sure,” Roberts said. “It depends how he comes out, how he looks, how he’s throwing, how he’s feeling. So I just kind of want to withhold kind of expectation and kind of read and react.”

Starting Ohtani made more sense than using him in relief.

Under a rule adopted for the 2022 season, pitchers who start games in the batting order can remain in the game as a designated hitter after leaving the mound. If Ohtani would start the game only as a DH and then would take the mound, the Dodgers would lose their DH and pitchers would have to bat in that slot if Ohtani was relieved.

Roberts said the rule was a factor in having Ohtani start.

“You don’t kind of pigeon hole him in his usage,” he said.

Roberts anticipated the other dozen pitchers on his roster would be available. That included Tyler Glasnow, who threw three pitches in getting the final three outs of the Dodgers' 3-1 victory in Game 6, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw 96 pitches over six innings for the win.

Scherzer was joining Bob Gibson (1964, ’67, ’68) and Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ’58) in starting multiple winner-take-all Game 7s in the World Series.

Scherzer also started the last World Series Game 7 in 2019, boosted by a cortisone injection for an irritated nerve near his neck. Mad Max didn’t have a clean inning and left after five trailing by two runs before his Washington Nationals rallied to win 6-2 in Houston.

A 41-year-old right-hander and three time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer allowed three runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings in Game 3 on Monday, which the Dodgers won in 18 innings.

Toronto manager John Schneider said 22-year-old rookie Trey Yesavage was likely to appear in relief on two days' rest after throwing 104 pitches over seven innings in the Blue Jays' Game 5 win.

“We kind of have targeted spots in the lineup that we want him to face, and you got to kind of see when that is. It could be early, it could be late,” Schneider said.

Yesavage made three relief appearances this year in the minors, two for Triple-A Buffalo and one for Double-A New Hampshire.

“I think it’s cool that he’s a little bit versed in it,” Schneider said. “Obviously, different stage tonight than it is pitching in Triple-A, but I think he’s shown he can handle it, so he’ll be ready to go.”

Yesavage entered to start an inning in all three relief appearances.

“I’m going to try to give him a clean inning. I’m not sure it’s going to happen, with anyone really tonight, but that would be ideal.” Schneider said. “I think whenever a guy is used to starting an inning, you kind of want to do that with him, but I think he understands that that may not happen tonight.” ___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb