Phillippe Aumont, Bo Schultz, and Allen Tait on the World Series, Game 3, Trey Yesavage and the special make-up of the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays
It was a bright, cold day on the first day of November, the pitch clocks were striking 13, and the Blue Jays’ David stood two outs away from defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Goliath.
“[Over] 70 games a year, you’re bound to miss something, you’re bound to blow something … it’s heartbreaking,” former Philadelphia Phillies reliever Phillippe Aumont said of Jeff Hoffman.
Hoffman had the ball with a 4-3 ninth-inning lead in Game 7 of the World Series. A controversial decision to throw a 3-2 slider to nine-hole hitter Miguel Rojas pushed the game into extra innings, and the Dodgers ultimately won 5‑4 in 11.
“He’s really good. Sometimes he’s missing a little bit of consistency, but, I mean, it’s a hard game as it is already,” Aumont said.
Aumont, who was teammates with Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman on Team Canada, explained that luck is often the X-factor against a team of juggernauts.
In Games 6 and 7, that luck ran out: a lodged ball, a double play, Andy Pages’ skillful play in left-center, a hanging slider and a broken bat all conspired against the Jays.
It was still a memorable run.
Bo Schultz, 40, pitched for the Blue Jays during their playoff run a decade ago. Watching the postseason on TV, he saw the same bulldog attitude that veterans like José Bautista and Josh Donaldson embodied back then.
It surfaced as Toronto left Dodger Stadium with the prospect of facing Shohei Ohtani without team-MVP George Springer after an exhausting 18 frames in Game 3.
They stormed back for two road wins.
“It’s like smelling blood in the water, and as soon as you see somebody tighten up, whether it’s hitting or pitching, people can see it and people can feel it, Schultz told the Charlatan.
“Once you get that momentum, it doesn’t matter.”
All season, the team had been confident in their ability, even when few outside the clubhouse believed in them. The Jays were the hunters against New York, Seattle and LA — all of whom were Vegas-favourites.
Trey Yesavage is a paragon for that composure. Few can record 12 strikeouts over seven innings of shutout baseball in the World Series, let alone a 22-year-old rookie.
For Schultz and Aumont, the biggest part of Yesavage’s success is mentality.
“Talent will bring you so far. It’ll bring you to the big leagues. Can you stay in the big leagues with talent? Probably not,” Aumont said.
“At some point, emotions are going to get to you … It starts with composure, competitiveness.”
Alongside Yesavage, Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also etched new postseason records for hits in a postseason (30) and OPS (1.289), beating Randy Arozarena’s marks set in 2020.
But Allen Tait, 67-year-old President of the Society for American Baseball Research’s Southern Ontario chapter, explained their play isn’t what he’ll remember most.
Rather, it’s the moment the benches cleared in Game 7.
“How quickly everybody came out,” Tait started over the phone.
“Who in the world would want to be ejected from the final game of the season with the title on the line? But that just shows the camaraderie.”
Featured image by Nathan Skopitz/the Charlatan
