Blake Snell changed his mind. 

Before the season started, he was adamant he wouldn’t pick up a ball and play this year if it wasn’t for his full salary. Not a pro-rated salary. He had a family to feed. You can’t do that on $3 million a year. Not in the middle of a pandemic. 

But now here he is starting Game 6 of the World Series. A game his team has to win. Or he gets to go home. Which is where he said he would rather be other than having to make this horrible sacrifice.

Good thing he plays for the Rays. They don’t let their pitchers go deep into games. Maybe five innings. Which is fair given he is practically playing for free anyway.

So the World Series resumes in The Shed with the Dodgers needing just one win. The Rays need two.

On paper, it would appear to favor the Rays. Snell is a Cy Young winner. The Dodgers are starting Tony Gonsolin, a guy with few enough innings to still be considered a rookie. But they don’t play on paper. They play on an artificial surface.

And pitching match ups mean nothing anymore because they usually last four innings. Then it’s up to the bullpens.

So, it’s up to Blake Snell to determine if he extends his team’s season one more game after today. For the rest of his team, it’s win or go home. For him it’s lose or have to work one more day. Almost for free.

Oh, the horror.

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TODAY’S GAME: