TORONTO – When it began, Blake Snell was still in control, not just of the game but an entire postseason. Addison Barger was on the bench, a virtual unknown beyond the Canadian border and his hometown of Tampa.
The Los Angeles Dodgers still had the whiff of indomitable defending champions, locked in a tie but possessing three MVPs who could change that at any time.
And then the sixth inning of Game 1 of this World Series began. And the baseball world found out exactly what the Toronto Blue Jays are all about.
A dozen batters came to the plate. Nine crossed it. Everyone put the ball in play or got on base. Three reserves were summoned off the bench and did exactly what was needed. And a rookie, a guy who began the season in the minor leagues but has produced two spine-tingling swings this October, made grand slam history.
The highlight reels will forever memorialize Barger’s 413-foot grand slam, the first pinch-hit slam in World Series history that pushed the Blue Jays’ lead to seven runs in an eventual 11-4 slaughter of the Dodgers that got the attention of anyone thinking this might be an L.A. walkover.
Can one half-inning define a season?
An organizational ethos? Capture the overwhelming belief among the dozens of players in that clubhouse and the relatively anonymous manager moving them on and off the field, like a game of Risk but with bats and balls?
It certainly can when virtually every Blue Jay was pulled from the shadows and shoved into the white-hot spotlight of Rogers Centre, 44,353 locals on tilt and a global TV audience expected to pull in massive viewership from Canada to Japan to the USA.
See, these Blue Jays are powerful in the aggregate, a crusher’s collective, a modern paradox in that they have light-tower powerful sluggers but also monk-like discipline when it comes to controlling the strike zone.
And in Game 1, they overwhelmed the defending champions.
“It’s the definition of our team,” says pitcher Chris Bassitt, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning in Game 1. “We have one through nine that are not fun to face. It’s been like that for a long, long time.
“Snell is a Cy Young pitcher. He has elite stuff. I’m proud of the guys who came off the bench to wear him down.”
Truth be told, that was a collective effort from the 12 Blue Jays who grabbed a bat at some point during Game 1.
They loaded the bases in the first inning and did not score – but coaxed 29 pitches out of Snell, who looked unbothered and unbeatable in posting a 0.86 ERA through three starts to push the Dodgers to the pennant.
“I think that’s what our identity is,” says All-Star infielder Bo Bichette, who returned from a knee sprain to play his first game since Sept. 6, and first at second base since a minor league appearance in 2019.
“Whether we’re putting up runs or not, we’re going to make them work. He’s an unbelievable pitcher and a tough task, for sure. But that was our goal going in.”
And then, the dam withered, and finally broke.
The first crack came when Daulton Varsho tied the score with a first-pitch, two-run rocket off Snell in the bottom of the fourth, the first left-handed hitter to take Snell deep since 2024.
Two innings later, Bichette drew a leadoff walk. And like a basketball coach digging deep into his rotation, Schneider went liberally to his bench.
And history followed.
Bichette, still gimpy on his left knee, exited for pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who’d take over at second base. Alejandro Kirk, their 5-foot-8, 245-pound anchor behind the plate, followed with a rocket just below the 328 mark on the right-field wall.
Varsho was next. Snell locked in, jumping ahead in the count until Varsho sneered at a 2-2 slider in the dirt, then fouled off a slider and a curveball before Snell finally cracked, drilling Varsho in the shoulder.
It was his 100th pitch, and it was the second of three Blue Jays plate appearances in which they forced the Dodgers to throw nine pitches – all resulting in Blue Jays reaching base.
Snell was done, failing to record an out in the sixth. Mission accomplished.
“He threw (29) pitches in the first. It’s hard when you not punching guys out, it wears you down” says Bassitt. “No matter how good you are, it wears you down.
“The fact we don’t strike out a lot – it’s really hard to face our lineup.”
The bases were loaded. The party was on.
Dodgers reliever Emmet Sheehan yielded the go-ahead hit to Ernie Clement, his 20th knock this postseason against just two strikeouts. Schneider, ever the mad scientist, tossed his regular No. 2 hitter, Lukes, up to pinch-hit.
Lukes clearly wanted to fit in with his mates: He, too, produced a nine-pitch plate appearance, and a bases-loaded walk. Now 4-2.
No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez stroked an RBI single. Leadoff man George Springer offered the Dodgers a momentary reprieve, grounding into a force out at home.
Meanwhile, Barger loomed on the bench like a glow stick at dusk. Veteran Jays watchers of at least a week knew he was lurking, that Schneider would throw him at just the right time.
Schneider said postgame he wanted to force a lefty into the game. Barger was ready.
In the Blue Jays bullpen, so was Eric Lauer.
“He said, ‘he’s going to hit a home run here,’” says Bassitt. “We were just waiting for him to do it. And damn, he did it.”
Barger delivered, ripping a 413-foot drive into a bobbing throng of humanity in the right center-field seats. Oh, it was nearly an out-of-body experience for the fellows in the white jerseys, too.
“That was something else. That was something I’d never felt before my entire career,” says Bichette. “I felt like I left my body and was on the field with him.”
It was 9-2. All but one Blue Jays position player had touched the field, and eight tallied a run scored. Schneider had concocted a poisonous brew for the Dodgers.
“Every button he pressed tonight hit,” says Kiner-Falefa. “There’s so many different ways we’re able to put things together, but John Schneider does such a good job plugging us in at the right opportunity.
“I just feel like he does such a great job using and deploying everybody. You come to the field knowing you might not start. But you’re gonna play, maybe at a crucial moment.
“Our bench is very special.”
Did we mention that it was still not over?
Kiner-Falefa began the inning as a pinch runner. About a half hour later, he was the 10th batter to come to the plate, a two-fer in one inning he’d never experienced.
Two batters later, Kirk recorded his second hit of the inning – a towering two-run blast to left field. Blue Jays 11, Dodgers 2, and a star turn for Kirk – who had three hits and reached base four times – his teammates savored.
“Kirk’s at-bats, the whole year, are insane,” says outfielder Myles Straw, who started against Snell in an effort to load right-handers against the southpaw. “He’s one of my top three favorite players of all time. Just his swag, his demeanor, he’s so chill. It’s like he’s playing in a spring training game out there. It’s insane.
“He’s unbelievable. The contact skills, the ability to hit the ball hard – whenever you got a guy at third, less than one out, 98% of the time I’d say the run will score.”
Kirk had 127 hits and 15 home runs this season – and struck out 15 times. Only the punchless Kansas City Royals struck out less than the Blue Jays, a potent combo of power and precision.
By night’s end, the spotlight was stolen. And perhaps a trove of casual viewers were put on to what these Blue Jays are all about.
“I think they should know already,” says Kirk through an interpreter. “The type of team that we are. The way we play.
“And that’s the reason why we’re here.”