Trey Yesavage Put The Blue Jays On His Back And Delivered a Masterpiece In Game 5 That Will Go Down As One Of The Best Starts Ever By a Rookie In World Series History

Daniel Shirey. Getty Images.

When I woke up this morning I really didn't know which way the World Series was going to turn. Toronto bouncing back like they did in Game 4 was beyond impressive and honestly stunning. They played with the brain of a gold fish and flushed away the devastating Game 3 loss with seemingly no issue at all. 

Magic helped set me straight with this tweet. This is expert level analysis you can't get anywhere else. 

Rookie Trey Yesavage got the ball in the all-important Game 5. Pretty tough spot for the kid going up against this Dodgers lineup on the road. This would also be the second time they'd see him in the series which doesn't exactly bode well for the pitcher. Worth keeping in mind that Yesavage didn't make his MLB debut until mid September of this year. Remarkably enough, he pitched in every level of the game this year. This doesn't happen. 

So what did he have in store for Game 5? How about 7 innings of one run ball, a rookie WS record of 12 strikeouts and zero walks? The 22 year old delivered a masterpiece in every sense of the word. It's one of the best starts by a rookie in World Series history when you consider the opponent and performance. 

23 whiffs on 52 swings, good for a 44% rate. That is fucking absurd. Yesavage had everything working with the splitter and slider causing havoc all night long. His unique release point really has hitters clueless up there when he's on. Just look at Shohei. 

Harry How. Getty Images.

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By the end of the 5th inning he had struck out every Dodger in the starting lineup. It was clinical from start to finish. One of the best starts by a rookie in a World Series game and it comes on the road against this Dodgers team. Ridiculous. 

The Jays lineup has also come to life these last two games. Today they started the game off with back to back jacks from Schneider and Vladdy. You want the tone set? You got it. 

Throughout this postseason the Blue Jays bats have hammered left handed pitching. For the second start in the series, Blake Snell got knocked around. A guy who entered the World Series allowing two runs in 21 innings this postseason, has been totally neutralized. This lineup is just that relentless. 

In Game 3 Shohei Ohtani recorded four hits, two of which were homers, and reached base a World Series record nine times. In these last two games he's 1 for 7 with a walk. By stretching these leads over the course of the game, Toronto has prevented any Ohtani bats in the 7th or later from really mattering. Credit to the Jays pitching as well, over the last two nights Ohtani has only come up with a guy on base one time. Preventing him from potentially delivering the big swing like makes life a lot easier, especially when Mookie Betts isn't contributing in the slightest. All of a sudden this Dodgers lineup isn't so scary. The Jays are out-classing them and now find themselves one win away from the World Series title as they head back home for Games 6 and 7. Last year it was the Yankees shitting down their leg when it came to mental mistakes and defensive miscues. Now you're seeing the Dodgers play that role while Toronto is just doing their thing. 

This World Series has been awesome and I can't imagine how nuts that crowd is going to be on Friday. Yamamoto will get the ball against Kevin Gausman. Ohtani will be available out of the pen for both games I imagine if he needs to be. This thing deserves to go 7, but will this Dodgers lineup wake up and make that happen? This is nuts!

P.S. I don't appreciate how I'm going to have to deal with this demon on Toronto for years to come. All of them. Fucking Vladdy is unstoppable. If they're able to lock in Bo long term him too. They have so many guys that can give you problems and right now they're all clicking.