A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The World Series continues tonight. The Toronto Blue Jays lead the LA Dodgers three games to two. A Blue Jays win tonight would make them baseball's new champion and give Toronto its first baseball title in decades. Steve Futterman is there.
STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: Blue Jays manager John Schneider expects a very loud and enthusiastic crowd tonight inside Rogers Center in downtown Toronto.
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JOHN SCHNEIDER: I can't wait to see what the Rogers Centre is going to look, feel and sound like.
UNIDENTIFIED FAN #1: One more win, one more win.
UNIDENTIFIED FAN #2: One more.
UNIDENTIFIED FAN #1: We're bringing it home.
UNIDENTIFIED FAN #3: One more win, let's go. One won.
(CHEERING)
FUTTERMAN: Toronto fans haven't experienced a World Series championship since 1993. And since they are fans, they're pretty confident that the more than 30-year drought is about to end. Brad and Darryl Stevner (ph).
BRAD STEVNER: Confidence level is good. Going to take it in six. And the Jays are relentless.
DARRYL STEVNER: Going home. Have two games to win it at home. This is it. This is our time.
FUTTERMAN: The Toronto players are a bit more grounded. Yes, they like their position, but they also know teams come back from 3-2 deficits. And they know the Dodgers, with baseball's highest payroll, full of future Hall of Famers, is a team capable of doing exactly that. Blue Jay outfielder Davis Schneider.
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DAVIS SCHNEIDER: There's seven games for a reason. You got to win four of them. And they're a good ball club over there. You can't really take them lightly. Yamamoto is going to pitch Friday. So he's such a good pitcher.
FUTTERMAN: The player he is talking about is the Dodgers' Japanese pitcher. No, not superstar Shohei Ohtani. It's Yoshi Yamamoto. In Game 2, he did something very rare in modern baseball, throwing a complete game, pitching all nine innings, the first World Series complete game in 10 years. Through an interpreter, he says he gained confidence in Game 2.
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YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: (Through interpreter) Yes, it did give me some certain level of confidence. But, you know, because now my mind is reset and then just focusing on the new game.
FUTTERMAN: When the series began, the Dodgers were viewed by many as a near certain winner. Tonight, they will be trying to simply survive. If they do, there will be a final Game 7 tomorrow. The last World Series to go all seven games was in 2019 when the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman at the World Series in Toronto.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUCKETHEAD'S "THE SIPHONING SEQUENCE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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