“We were fighting for our lives. I thought they were the best team in the postseason, just the way they played baseball,” Roberts said. <\/p>\n
The Blue Jays outscored the Dodgers 34-26, and their .269 batting average was better than LA’s .203. Moreover, Toronto’s on-base percentage and slugging percentage were considerably better than LA’s. <\/p>\n
The Blue Jays pitching staff posted a better ERA by nearly three-quarters of a run. The team committed zero errors. <\/p>\n
This is the perfect example of how the numbers don’t lie, but they also don’t tell the full story. <\/p>\n
If an individual read over the World Series numbers without watching the game, it would seem like the Blue Jays had won. The Dodgers, however, came up big when they needed to.<\/p>\n
Roberts believed the Blue Jays embodied the personality of their manager, Schneider. <\/p>\n
“They took on his personality,” Roberts said. “To win that series against Seattle, who I felt could really prevent runs. You have to do that by giving something up on the offensive side. They do a good job of hunting what they want to hunt to potentially slug, but to be able to check down. All these guys got their players to buy into checking down, seeing the ball a tick longer to shoot the ball the other way to take a ball down below to get the count deeper. <\/p>\n
“When you get [Vladimir Guerrero Jr.] leading the charge doing that, everyone’s got to buy in. Obviously, George [Springer] has won a championship. So, it was a scary team to go up against.” <\/p>\n
The Blue Jays were the better team, by the numbers. However, in the key moments that kept Game 7 going, the Dodgers came up clutch. <\/p>\n
By that measure, the Dodgers’ back-to-back World Series titles should be seen with even more appreciation given the team was up against the best. <\/p>\n
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