LOS ANGELES – We have reached the portion of this World Series where fans may want to avert their eyes.
Oh, not from the surroundings: Palm trees will sway, sunsets will dazzle and the Micheladas will flow in an overstuffed Dodger Stadium as the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers resume an already entertaining World Series knotted at one game apiece.
The aesthetic pleasure, so far, is off the charts, unsurprising when the Dodgers tout three former MVPs atop their lineup and just produced one of the greatest starting pitching performances in World Series history, all pitted against a Blue Jays team that’s never met a nine-run rally it didn’t like.
Yet in Games 3, 4 and 5, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kevin Gausman will be nowhere to be found. The starting pitchers aligned almost certainly won’t last as deep into the game. And the next three games will be contested without an off day.
Those factors create an inconvenient reality for both clubs: An increasingly narrow circle of trusted relievers will be forced to take the ball, again and again, to perhaps diminishing returns.
