There are compliments, and then there’s the kind of nod a craftsman gives another after watching something outrageous up close. That’s what San Diego Padres starter Yu Darvish offered on Saturday night, respect from a peer who’s seen everything, after Yoshinobu Yamamoto shouldered the Dodgers to a second straight title.
In a World Series that kept spiking the drama meter, Yamamoto’s answer in Game 7 was to grab the ball on zero days’ rest and smother the Blue Jays’ last oxygen supply. He didn’t just steady the night; he bent it to his routine, his tempo, his split.