Jays hope to stave off elimination in Game 6 of ALCS against Mariners
The Toronto Blue Jays entered the American League Championship Series (ALCS) fully embracing the team's "Want It All" slogan.
They'll need to beat the Seattle Mariners tonight and again tomorrow at Toronto's Rogers Centre for that rallying cry to remain possible. Despite outhitting the Mariners 44-36 and outscoring them 27-25 over the first five games, the Blue Jays trail the best-of-seven ALCS 3-2 and are on the brink of elimination.
But Jays manager John Schneider says his team isn’t preparing for Game 6 any differently because they’ve been locked in all year.
"We all know what’s at stake, but I think you have to go play your game," Schneider said in a pre-game news conference Monday in Toronto.
"I think that’s what we’ve done all year, and you gotta lean into it … these guys are really good at getting prepared every day, so there’s no other way to go about it."
Blue Jays rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage will be on the mound tonight. He allowed five runs over four innings as Toronto fell to Seattle 10-3 in Game 2 on Monday in Toronto.
Jays slugger George Springer will be back in the lineup for Game 6 after he was hit on the knee by a pitch and forced to leave Game 5 in Seattle on Friday.
At a news conference during optional workouts at Rogers Centre on Saturday, Schneider noted that Springer was feeling better and that it was "just a contusion.”
Seattle's first-round pick in the 2018 MLB draft, right-hander Logan Gilbert, will start for the Mariners and he is aiming to lead his team to its first World Series appearance in franchise history.
Seattle won the first two games in Toronto, while the Jays the next two in Seattle by scores of 13-4 and 8-2, before losing 6-2 in Friday's Game 5, even though they had a one-run lead and the score was 2-1 heading into the eighth inning.
The winner of the ALCS will go on to face the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
Toronto has not advanced the World Series since 1993 — when the Jays were last champions — while Seattle has never advanced to the Fall Classic.
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