TORONTO — Game 6 asked Tyler Glasnow for something unusual. He was penciled in to start Game 7, then the ninth inning spun into chaos and the bullpen door swung open. Three pitches later, the Dodgers had a save, a win for his team, and a ticket to a winner-take-all Saturday night in Toronto. The tall right-hander walked off calm, almost amused by how fast it all happened.
“I didn’t have enough time to think about it,” Glasnow said of the game’s crazy final two outs. “Off the bat I thought it might’ve dropped, and then I saw it was close enough. He caught it and threw him out. It was kind of crazy. I just thought, please don’t be a hit. It wasn’t a hit. Nice double play.”
From the bullpen, he tried to stay in neutral. “I did it in Philly. Kind of wild,” he said. “I didn’t really think I was going to get in there. I wasn’t super [locked to the idea], but as the game got a little sticky at the end, I was like, all right, there’s a real chance I’ll get in the game. It’s a cool perspective to watch from the bullpen.”
Back-to-back days? Even he had to search his memory. “I don’t know if I’ve ever done it,” he said. “I’ve pitched a heavy bullpen and then pitched, and it’s not all the same stuff. I threw barely any pitches. I didn’t really warm up a ton either. I threw three pitches.”
The routine before first pitch stayed normal. “Normal pre-day,” he said. “I get on it pretty well. No mound or anything, but it feels normal.”
Once summoned, the plan was simple and immediate. “Yeah, I think I kind of had a feeling they were going to ambush,” Glasnow said. “I don’t really throw a lot of two-seams to righties and I think it ran pretty good inside. Just tried to locate it in and I got the quick out. That always feels good to get the first out. Then I threw another two-seam and got another out and double play.”
The scoreboard, the noise, the series math, he pushed it aside. “I wasn’t really going to think about what’s at stake,” he said. “I just have to make a pitch, each pitch at a time, and if I execute it, things will work out. I didn’t have any idea about the situation or anything. There wasn’t any extra pressure. I was just trying to make my pitches and not really think about it. I warmed up very little, got out there, and there was no thinking at all. It worked out.”
He admitted he had let his mind wander earlier in the night. “There were a couple daydreams in the pen today,” he said, smiling. “I was like, is this… am I going to get in the game in maybe the ninth inning? I’ve had all sorts of daydreams about every pitching thing possible as a kid. Closing out a game or starting the World Series. I thought about it all the time. It’s pretty wild. I still haven’t really processed it. To get a save in the World Series is pretty wild.”
Someone brought up his brief bullpen work years ago. It wasn’t much to write home about. “I pitched like mop-up roles,” he said. “Not a lot, but I was in the pen a little bit. I wasn’t very good then. I never threw strikes. Wasn’t that good. That’s what they were missing.”
For a club that needed every clean out, the efficiency mattered. “Just trying to get that first pitch,” he said. “Get a quick out. Then another. Don’t overthink it.” His description of the final swing felt as brisk as his outing. “Didn’t have time to stew on it,” he said. “It kind of got thrown on me.”
Now comes the assignment he was scheduled for all along. Though the exact order in which the Dodgers will attack the Blue Jays is still TBD, you can be sure that Glasnow will pencil in somewhere. He left the field sounding ready. “I feel normal,” he said. “I didn’t throw a lot tonight. It was quick. I’ll get my work in and be ready.”
If Game 6 was a blur, he knows Game 7 won’t be. The plan, though, doesn’t change much from those three pitches. “Make a pitch, each pitch,” Glasnow said. “Execute it, and things will work out.”
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