The Toronto Blue Jays weren’t quite dead and buried before Tuesday night, but much of the baseball world had picked up shovels.
The Jays were coming off a crushing, exhausting, 18-inning loss in Game 3. They were missing star sparkplug George Springer, injured in that dispiriting loss.
And they were facing starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani, arguably the best baseball player who has ever lived. And who himself, by the way, happened to reach base nine times on Monday night.
There were questions asked Tuesday of Toronto manager John Schneider about whether he would intentionally walk Ohtani to lead off the game.
The subtext of that question: Are you ready to give up? Were the Jays really going to just concede that Ohtani couldn’t be stopped? And if so, why not just hand over the trophy?
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It had already reached that point.
But the Never Say Die Jays had something to say about that. The narrative that has built around these Blue Jays this season would not be denied.
This is a team that hangs around and battles, that makes even elite pitchers work, that grinds opponents down and gets key contributions from up and down the lineup.
Oh, and sometimes one of their stars mashes a dinger.
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On Tuesday night, that was exactly the Blue Jays team that showed up for Game 4. A 6-2 win in Los Angeles against the defending champions tied the World Series at 2-2, ensured a return to the Rogers Centre for Game 6 on Friday night, where the anticipation at the ticket prices will again be sky high.
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Toronto’s tested formula worked: Solid pitching, timely contributions, and one dinger.
The Jays didn’t deliver the fatal shot down the thermal exhaust port of the Death Star Dodgers, but they have breached the outer defences.
Ohtani, who in his last playoff appearance on the mound finished off the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series with a 10-strikeout, three-homer performance, was dazzling in flashes.
Through six innings, he had six strikeouts and was his usual freakish self, casually baffling Toronto batters with his assortment of devastating pitches.
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But he also had one blemish: a two-run home run from Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., in the third inning that felt absolutely massive in the moment. It was an adrenaline shot to the heart of a team that was not showing a lot of life.
The Jays had failed to score in the final 11 innings of Game 3, and the fear was that Ohtani would throw up another pile of blanks.
Instead, Guerrero lashed a breaking ball over the left-field fence, proof that the Jays would not go quietly again.
And proof that Ohtani, praise be, was actually human. Superhuman, sure, but it was a start.
It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Jays really started doing that Jays things. Daulton Varsho worked Ohtani for a single and then Ernie Clement rocked a low fastball off the left-field wall to put two runners on.
That blast chased the Japanese superstar from the game and gave Toronto another chance to do the damage against a shaky Dodgers bullpen that they couldn’t do a day earlier.
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They did it this time: Andres Gimenez plopped a run-scoring single into left field, and pinch hitter Ty France plated another run with a ground-ball out.
Two guys who wouldn’t be among the top 10 hitters that Jays fans would expect to come through in crucial at-bats had done exactly that, stretching the Toronto lead to three.
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Bo Bichette and Addison Barger, two guys who absolutely would be on the short list of players that Jays fans expect to get big hits, followed with singles to make it a 6-1 game.
It was, Scheider would say after the game, “A Jays inning, you know what I mean?”
And we did know what he means. The Blue Jays had more innings of at least four runs scored than any team in baseball this season.
This is what they do. Their pitchers keep them in games and their offence wears people out.
Shane Bieber, the trade-deadline addition who started for the Jays, did more than just keep them in it: He was stellar, and even struck out Ohtani, who had reached base 11 consecutive times, a World Series record, twice.
The first one of which was up there with Guerrero’s homer in vibes-related importance.
It sent the message that the Jays would not simply surrender to Ohtani’s greatness. If you cut him, he will bleed.
The Dodgers, it is worth recalling, came into the World Series with a 9-1 playoff record.
They had swept the Brewers, who had the best record in baseball, in four games, allowing just four runs. Total.
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The Jays were on the verge of being just another speed bump. That 18-inning loss, in which Toronto blew what felt like countless chances to score, would have buckled most teams.
But not this one. The Blue Jays have been proving doubters wrong all season. Why stop now? On Tuesday night, they were at their relentless, undeniable best.
Put those shovels down, everyone. The Jays, and this World Series, are still alive.
