LOS ANGELES — Where the heck did he come from? How could this be happening? Sports are awesome. Baseball is beautiful. Unlikely stories are the best part.

But there are all those other stories, and then there is Trey Yesavage. Five months ago, he was pitching in the Low-A Florida State League, facing a bunch of kids right out of high school, college and San Pedro de Macoris. Wednesday night, he was striking out 12 Dodgers in the World Series.

Advertisement

That is wild. And that is weird. But before we get to all the reasons for that, let’s just say the important part out loud.

This shouldn’t be a thing that is happening to a real 22-year-old person, in real life. But here we are.

“It’s a crazy world,” this Blue Jays phenom was saying Wednesday night, after spinning off arguably the greatest rookie pitching performance in World Series history, in the Blue Jays’ 6-1 Game 5 win. “Crazy world. Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good.”

Those scriptwriters in Hollywood are famous for their vivid imaginations. But who imagines this? Who imagines an October dominator practically dropping out of the sky to lead the Blue Jays to within one game of a place they have never been in Yesavage’s lifetime — that place where World Series champions hang out?

“Absolutely incredible,” said Yesavage’s 41-year-old teammate, Max Scherzer. “You’ve got a guy going seven innings and punching out 12 in the World Series. I mean, that’s incredible.”

But then this whole night was incredible. This was what it looked like at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday:

• The first two Toronto hitters, Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., pounding two solo home runs before Dodgers starter Blake Snell had thrown his fourth pitch.

• A sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium spending the next three hours watching in what passes for semi-silent shock in a park with a PA system so thunderous, you could possibly hear it in Wyoming if you listened hard enough.

• The Blue Jays then running up a 6-1 wipeout of the mighty Dodgers to take a three-games-to-two lead in this World Series, as everyone heads back to Toronto.

So now that we have all that covered, it’s time for the World Series Weird and Wild column to fire off eight fun facts that will help explain just how cool, shocking and unforgettable the story of the Blue Jays’ 22-year-old starting pitcher has become.

Trey Yesavage gets a hug from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after his seven-inning gem in Game 5.