It was a Halloween thriller in Toronto. The Toronto Blue Jays were just one win away from their first World Series title in 32 years and held a 3-2 series lead over the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers entering Game 6 of the World Series. And the defending champions, who were not ready to give up even facing elimination, got their first win in a best-of-seven series when trailing 2-3 on the board.

But in this high-stakes battle of survival, there was a moment when the Blue Jays had their best chances to get the best of the Dodgers. The match was tight, 3-1, with the Dodgers leading, entering the eighth innings, when Manager Dave Roberts handed the ball to rookie phenom, Roki Sasaki, to get the final six outs. Sasaki first faced the top of the Blue Jays’ dangerous lineup featuring George Springer, Nathan Lukes, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr one by one.

And after a couple of minutes, the game was first and second base loaded with only Luke’s out, followed by a Springer single and Guerrero’s walk. But Sasaki somehow held the rest of the Jays’ lineup by getting Bo Bichette to pop out and Daulton Varsho into a groundout.

So the two runs lead saved. But in the ninth innings, Sasaki lost control and hit catcher Alejandro Kirk in his splitter on a 0-2 count.

Things got worse when the next at bat, Addison Barger, hit a 2-2 fastball that lined it deep to the left-center gap. But what a twist of fate that the ball got stuck under the wall padding.

Center fielder Justin Dean raised his hands, and the umpires ruled it a ground-rule double, leaving the runners on second and third and saving the Dodgers’ lead intact, still at 3-1.

Manager Dave Roberts didn’t lose any time pulling his rookie closer and brought in his Game 7 starter, Tyler Glasnow, who finally saved the game. After the game, Roberts’s explanation for the change was stunning. “[Sasaki] gets 0-2 to Kirk and hits him with the split,” Roberts said. “And then Barger gets a fast ball… You know, from that point on, for me, I just felt that… Roki wasn’t as sharp.”

“I just felt we needed some swing and miss, and Glass[now] was the guy,” he continued. “So I had him loose kind of looming and just a situation I I was you know the pop up was huge but I was looking for somebody that can get some swing and miss and some kind of elite staff and that’s why I decided to go with glass.”

Roberts’s words painted a picture of a failed rookie,

But that is not the whole story..

The Dodgers’ skipper seemed to forget his team would not even be in Game 6 without that same rookie. The Japanese phenom actually struggled badly as a starter and posted a 4.46 ERA in the regular season.

Then the Dodgers shifted Sasaki to the bullpen for the playoffs. And the gamble paid well, as his strikeout rate reportedly quadrupled and became Roberts’s most trusted reliever in high-stakes moments.

Sasaki first shut the door in the Wild Card clincher against the Cincinnati Reds in just eleven pitches. Then he faced the powerful Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and earned saves in both Game 1 and Game 2, and most importantly, the NLDS clincher Game 4, where he pitched three perfect innings in a tied game against the mighty lineup that featured Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Trea Turner, and J.T. Realmuto.

And what about the man who replaced him? This was Tyler Glasnow’s second relief appearance in the postseason-his first relief outing was in the NLDS against the Phillies, where he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings- and now Roberts clearly views him as the ultimate break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guy.

Glasnow can start the final game 7 with short rest against Toronto’s 41-year-old living legend, Max Scherzer. In his last start in the “rough” 18-inning Game 3, he pitched 4.2 innings and allowed four runs (only two of which were earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out five.