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TORONTO — George Springer has become a hero in Toronto, where his five-year tenure with the team culminated in his go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last week.
But in Los Angeles, the veteran slugger remains a villain for his role on the 2017 Houston Astros team that beat the Dodgers in that year’s World Series — and was later found to have been stealing signs with their trash-can-banging system that year.
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Plaschke: As tied World Series returns to Dodger Stadium, George Springer and Max Scherzer beware
The series momentum, which belonged to Toronto after the Jays’ 11-4 blowout victory in the opener, now shifts solidly back to the Dodgers, with the next three games at Dodger Stadium.
Though Springer was among the more apologetic players from that Astros team after the scandal went public in 2019 — “I regret everything,” he said at the time — he has nonetheless been greeted with vociferous boos in every return trip to Dodger Stadium since.
So what was he expecting for this World Series, which returns to Chavez Ravine on Monday?
“I just have to focus on the game,” he said, deflecting from the narrative. “At the end of the day, I have a job to do. I have a game to focus on. That’s where I am on that.”
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An experience they wouldn’t trade
Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt connects for a double against the Cincinnati Reds during Game 2 of the National League Wildcard Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 1.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Neither Alex Call nor Ben Rortvedt had appeared in a playoff game until this season. And though neither Dodger reserve got off the bench in the first two games of the World Series, they’re a lot closer to the action then they expected to be before the July trades that brought them to Los Angeles.
“It’s really cool. I’m just soaking it all in,” said Call, who came over from the Washington Nationals at the deadline.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” added Rortvedt, who was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays, then spent most of the summer in triple A before being called up when Will Smith got hurt in early September. “I’ve been taking it more day by day, so it hasn’t kind of struck me as much as people think it would. Definitely when this is done I’m really going to reflect and kind of realize how crazy it has been to kind of be on this team and be where we are now.”
Call, 31, who also played with the Cleveland Guardians in a five-year big-league career, appeared in one game in each of the Dodgers’ first three playoff series, going three for four with two walks, getting hit by a pitch and scoring a run.
Ben Rortvedt has provided a steady presence behind the plate for the pitching staff, improved defense on balls in the dirt, and subtly useful offense.
“It’s kind of crazy because it feels like it should have been harder,” Call said of reaching the World Series. “With the Nats, it’s like we were going to have to grind our way all the way to the top. And then you get to come over the Dodgers and you’re the favorites, World Series champs. You’ve got probably the best roster ever assembled, with amazing stars up and down the lineup, and then they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we want Alex Call on our team.’
“That’s kind of an amazing compliment.”
Rortvedt, 28, who also played with the Yankees and Minnesota Twins in four seasons, started the first four games of the postseason and hit .429.
“If I pinch myself, it’s kind of like I’m not sure [I’m here,]” he said. “I just try to be as prepared as I can, understand the magnitude of things, and just try to be prepared and try to slow everything down and do my best.”
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Renewing acquaintances
Max Scherzer pitches for the Dodgers during a game in September 2021. Scherzer will start Game 3 of the World Series for Toronto.
(Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
Max Scherzer, who will start Game 3 for the Blue Jays, spent part of 2021 with the Dodgers, going 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 11 starts. But he said he won’t be the same pitcher Monday he was when he was a Dodger.
“It’s the ultimate chess game. They’re making moves. I’m making moves,” he said. “That’s just baseball. But it’s been like that for years for me now. I understand how everybody wants to attack me, how I want to attack them.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to go out there and compete and you got to throw strikes. It kind of gets back down to the basics.”
Dodger manager Dave Roberts said the thing he remembers most about Scherzer was his intensity.
Max Scherzer’s return to L.A. as the Blue Jays’ Game 3 World Series starter should remind the Dodgers how much better their pitching strategy is compared to 2021.
“Great competitor,” he said. “Don’t want to touch him during outings, don’t want to pat him on the back side.
“I really enjoyed managing a future Hall of Famer. He’s very smart. He’s a baseball player first, then a pitcher. It’s going to be a good test for us.”
