Game six of the World Series kicks off Friday night at 8 PM EDT/ 5 PM PDT in Toronto with Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers taking on Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays in a rematch of game two. The Dodgers won that game 5-1 after Yamamoto pitched a second complete game in the post-season. Note that he never pitched a complete game in the regular season. Note that even if Yamamoto pitches another complete game tonight, he won’t make the top 10 in post-season innings, missing it by 1/3 an inning. Madison Bumgarner in 2014 pitched 52 2/3 innings with a 1.03 ERA. Note that a number of pitchers are tied for tenth place at 38, and the top ten include Dodgers greats Orel Hershiser (42 2/3 innings, 1.05 ERA in 1988) and Fernando Valenzuela (40 2/3 innings, 2.21 ERA in 1981, the first year of three rounds due to the strike). Yamamoto comes into this game with a 1.57 ERA, walking just four batters in 28 2/3 inning with just 17 hits allowed.

Gausman owns a 2.55 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. He has not delivered the strikeouts, just 18, but still managed to limit hits, allowing just 14 in the post season. Four of them went for home runs, however, The four solo shots account for most of his seven runs allowed.

Both pitchers throw the split finger fastball. The pitch experienced a renaissance, after being dropped due to injury concerns. I suspect that since pitcher injuries kept going up after the pitch went on leave, people started to realize that maybe it’s just the act of pitching that causes injuries.

Both Yamanoto and Gausman get an extra day of rest due to the two travel days, so if they pitch well, expect both of them to go deep tonight.

Enjoy!