TORONTO — Shortly after George Springer sent a line drive to center field to cash the only run the Toronto Blue Jays scored in Game 6 of the World Series, the DH returned to the dugout and put his arms in the air so a black band could be wrapped around his torso.
Three games earlier, the 36-year-old Springer had taken a hard swing and immediately grabbed his right side, then walked straight to the dugout in obvious pain, never to return. After missing Games 4 and 5, Springer was reinserted atop the lineup on Friday.
As the Blue Jays suffered a 3-1 loss to the L.A. Dodgers that means this World Series is going to a deciding seventh game back at the Rogers Centre on Saturday (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+), it was the lead-off hitter playing through obvious pain who provided some of the only offence the Blue Jays managed against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Toronto starting pitcher Kevin Gausman, who struck out eight and gave up three runs over six innings in the loss, said the black band Springer was wearing was a “hypervolt,” which is a vibrating heat pack to “keep things warm,” as the right-hander explained it.
Added outfielder Myles Straw, of Springer: “He’s wearing a lot of things, I’m sure.”
And dealing with a lot of things, to be sure. Asked just how banged up Springer is, center fielder Daulton Varsho smiled and said: “I think everybody knows.”
Springer doesn’t feel good, yet he’s the guy whose single drove in Addison Barger to get the Blue Jays on the board in the third inning. Springer went 2-4, and his second hit led off the eighth inning, though it didn’t materialize in the comeback effort Toronto needed to win the franchise’s first World Series title in more than three decades.
That Springer was back in the lineup on Friday to try to clinch that title came as a surprise to nobody on this Blue Jays roster. In the ALCS, Springer took a 95 mph pitch off a kneecap and tried to stay in the game, but couldn’t, though he returned the next game and played through obvious pain.
“You knew he wasn’t going to miss this game — that’s the kind of competitor that he is,” Gausman said Friday. “And yeah, he probably feels terrible, between his knee and now his oblique — two things you really need if you’re swinging the bat as hard as he does. I thought it was awesome to see his name in the lineup, but I wasn’t surprised.
“You just kind of expect him to do things that most other guys won’t. And I think that’s kind of him setting the tone for everybody else that this is what it takes. It takes everybody, and maybe you’re at 70 per cent, but give whatever you got. Like, we’ve got to this point because of George, obviously.”
What was also obvious to the naked eye on Friday was that Springer was labouring. When he swung and missed, he winced. When he checked a swing, he looked uncomfortable.
As Blue Jays manager John Schneider put it: “I think if Georgie was — even if he wasn’t good, he wouldn’t tell me.”
“He’s been playing through injuries probably his whole career and tonight was no different,” said utility man Davis Schneider, who was in Springer’s leadoff spot in Game 5 (and homered on the first pitch he saw). “You could tell he was in a little bit of pain, but he probably knew that going into it. But he’s our captain, he is our leader, so he was going to be in the game no matter what.”
“He knows what’s on the line, he’s been here before, he knows how bad the boys want it, the country wants it, and everyone wants it, so he’s scuffling, but he’s tough,” added Straw. “I’ve seen him do this before and I know it’s not easy but he is going to be the guy to do it.”
In the bottom of the ninth, down a pair of runs, Straw was on first, pinch-running for Alejandro Kirk, when Barger smoked a ball into the left field wall that got stuck between the wall and turf and wasn’t immediately played by the Dodgers. Straw and Barger both hit home plate and treated it like an inside-the-park home run before they were returned to second and third, since the ball was deemed unplayable.
One out later, Andres Gimenez hit a ball into shallow left field that turned into a double play after Barger got caught trying to return to second. That ended the game, but if the double play hadn’t happened, Springer was on deck.
“Who knows what happens in that George at-bat,” Straw said. “We’ll never know but that’s ok and turn the page and do it all again (Saturday).”
Game 7 is now upon the Blue Jays. And the thing is, the last time they won Game 7 it was thanks to Springer, who proved he’s really good at coming up really big when he’s banged up. He emphatically made that known in Game 7 of the ALCS when, three days after he took that pitch off a kneecap and left the game, he hit one of the biggest home runs in franchise history: a three-run shot that landed the Blue Jays here in the World Series.
Now a win away from the title, Springer is hurt again, and you could say the stage is set for him to be the injured hero for the Blue Jays in the biggest game in decades.
“I mean, one could hope, right?” said catcher Tyler Heineman, with a grin. “His process is so great all the time, and we just expect him to be in the moment, and to love the moment.”
And when it comes to Springer, you can count on that, even if the moment brings him pain.
