World Series, Game 5: 8:00 PM ET, FOX (The series is tied, 2-2)

RHP Trey Yesavage (TOR) (2-1, 4.26 ERA, 27 K) vs. LHP Blake Snell (LAD) (3-1, 2.42 ERA, 32 K)

“Good lord,” asked Paul Folkemer, after Monday night’s ridiculous, 6-hour, 39-minute, 18-inning marathon. “How do you follow that?”

Well, Toronto’s bats did by recovering in lightning-fast fashion to deliver LA starter Shohei Ohtani an unexpected pummeling, saddling him with four runs in six innings and an L in Game 4. Ohtani had given up just three runs in 12 innings of postseason ball before that, including his ridiculous 10-strikeout dispatching of the Brewers in the NLCS.

Everyone is mortal, it turns out. Hey, he was up really late the night before.

Game 4’s 6-2 result was, it goes without saying, a gigantic win for the Blue Jays, who flipped the series momentum and ensured a return to home field north of the border. Trade deadline acquisition Shane Bieber was solid, working into the sixth inning while allowing just one earned run. Regular starter Chris Bassitt helped out with two shutout innings in the seventh and eighth, allowing his team to rest their best relief arms (Jeff Hoffman, Eric Lauer and Seranthony Domínguez). It’s all hands on deck in the World Series, people!

Tonight we get a repeat of Game 1, a 11-4 beatdown for Toronto in which neither starter pitched particularly well. That night, Toronto rookie Trey Yesavage went four innings, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks, while the Dodgers’ Blake Snell was uncharacteristically hittable, getting hit up for five runs on eight hits and three walks over five innings. It was an unexpected dud for the lefty Snell, who is something of a postseason gamer, with a 2.42 ERA this season plus a 7-4 record and a 3.01 ERA in 16 playoff games in his career.

Tonight’s matchup features a pretty big experience gap: the 22-year-old Yesavage will be making just his fifth career playoff start. You’ve heard by now that he started the year in High-A ball. So far, he’s been pretty good under immense pressure, with a 2-1 record and 4.26 ERA in the postseason.

This is, on paper, an advantageous matchup for Los Angeles, but Toronto has outscored them 23-17 in this series so far.

It goes without saying that Game 5 is a big one for both teams. For Toronto, hanging tough at Dodger Stadium to return home with a 3-2 lead would be a massive morale boost. For the Dodgers, a win tonight means the difference between pulling to within one win of their second straight championship and having to head all the way to Canada needing to win back-to-back elimination games, in front of a hostile crowd of … exceedingly polite hockey fans? (OK, that is only partly true.)

Davis Schneider LF (R)Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. 1B (R)Bo Bichette DH (R)Alejandro Kirk C (R)Daulton Varsho CF (L)Ernie Clement 3B (R)Addison Barger RF (L)Isiah Kiner-Falefa 2B (R)Andrés Giménez SS (L)Shohei Ohtani DH (L)Will Smith C (R)Mookie Betts SS (R)Freddie Freeman 1B (L)Teoscar Hernández RF (R)Tommy Edman 2B (S)Max Muncy 3B (L)Kike Hernández CF (R)Alex Call LF (R)