For one big night in Seattle, the Mad Max Scherzer experience was compelling theatre.
And yes, with a stellar outing from the veteran Toronto starter helping propel his team to a resounding 8-2 win over the Mariners, the Blue Jays are now just two wins away from their first trip to the World Series since 1993.
As intense a competitor as the big league baseball has seen -- and most sports, for that matter -- Scherzer was simply brilliant in what had the feel of the biggest win of this remarkable Blue Jays season.
The 41-year-old right hander gave his team 5.2 innings of crafty, clinical starting pitching, punctuated with emotional outbursts which was all bundled up for one wildly entertaining package.
With the offence adding its support, the Jays have won two in a row at T Mobile Stadium -- after losing the first two at home -- but now guaranteeing that the series will return to Toronto for at least Game 6 of the ALCS on Sunday.
But what a win it was on Thursday for the Jays, yet another resounding example of the team's pluckiness, a consistent strength that drove them to a 94-win regular season and now in the driver's seat of this best-of-seven series.
Scherzer held the Mariners to two earned runs and just three hits through his 5.2 innings -- throwing wizardry. And with run support, the win was never in doubt from the third inning on.
We'll start our takeaways from a massive Game 4 Jays triumph with a pair devoted to Masterful Max himself.
It was everything you'd expect from the entertaining veteran -- and probably more -- an effort and a show complete with some dugout-pleasing histrionics that delighted Scherzer's teammates.
After one inning, there was an elbow to the chops of pitching coach Pete Walker as a fired-up Scherzer bounded down the dugout steps.
And then the classic, a video clip that will likely be a part of a Scherzer career highlight package. When manager John Schneider came to the mound for a chat with two out in the fifth, you didn't need to be a lip reader to see that Scherzer was yelling "woah" to his skipper and then after a brief chat on the mound: "Let's Go!" Go he did, finishing off the job and getting the call to come back for the sixth.
After a couple of walks in the first -- a brief bit of shakiness that had to make some wonder about Scherzer making his first start since Sept. 24 -- and a solo home run allowed to Canadian Josh Naylor to lead off the second, Scherzer buckled down and was borderline magnificent.
And every one of his teammates loved it.
An uneven season with a couple of injury delays -- to the point that he wasn't even on the roster for the ALDS against the Yankees -- meant that the one-year $15.5-million US deal the Jays gave Scherzer wasn't always looking like a good return.
But it can be argued that Jays' owner Rogers will get all that back and more thanks to that one bit of post-season brilliance. There's no way of determining exactly how much another home playoff date is worth, but with at least a Game 6 back at the Rogers Centre, one great playoff game from the future hall of famer will go a long way towards his employer collecting every bit of that contract.
The Jays surging offence continues to be the big story of what once again is feeling like a special post-season run. With the eight they put up on Thursday, they've now scored 59 through eight games -- and that includes the combined four they were held to in the first two games of this series.
The driver of this offence throughout the season has been contributions up and down the order and that was once again the case in the Jays latest win in the Pacific Northwest. While Vlad Guerrero Jr.'s solo homer in the seventh was his fifth of the playoffs, setting a franchise record for a single post-season, it's the supporting cast that continues to shine.
We'll start that discussion with No. 9 hitter Andres Gimenez, who for the second night in a row blasted a two-run homer, this time in the third for the Jays first runs of the game. Gimenez, a sleepy offensive player during the regular season, drove in four of the Jays eight runs.
And how about Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who Schneider inserted in the lineup because he liked the matchup against Seattle starter Luis Castillo. Kiner-Falefa had hits in his first two at-bats, crossing the plate for a run after both.
Among the big list of positives to come out of Thursday's monumental win is what comes next. This ALCS is now down to a best-of-three with the Jays reclaiming home-field advantage.
The lone remaining game in Seattle goes Friday at 6:08 p.m. and the Jays will send their ace, Kevin Gausman, to the mound for that one.
Gausman, you will recall, pitched five shutout innings for the Jays in Game 1 but got the hook after allowing a solo homer to Cal Raleigh in the sixth and walking the next hitter. That controversial call dogged the Jays, who lost that game 3-1, with Gausman saddled with the loss.
You can bet he'll have his best on Friday, however, as the Rays counter with their Game 1 starter (and winner) Bryce Miller.