Rookie Merritt unfazed by Game 5 magnitude

TORONTO — They joke in the Indians’ clubhouse about the things that would come out of Ryan Merritt’s mouth if the club advanced to the World Series against, say, a certain team from the North Side of Chicago.

“What’s the World Series?”

• ALCS Game 5: Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on TBS/Sportsnet/RDS

“Wrigley Field? What’s that?”

Game Date Time Matchup TV/Highlights Gm 1 Oct. 14   CLE 2, TOR 0 Gm 2 Oct. 15   CLE 2, TOR 1 Gm 3 Oct. 17   CLE 4, TOR 2 Gm 4 Oct. 18   TOR 5, CLE 1 Gm 5 Oct. 19 4 p.m. CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 6 Oct. 21 8 p.m. TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 7 Oct. 22 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS * If necessary | All times listed ET • ALCS coverageShop for postseason gear: Blue Jays | Indians

“Why is that stuff growing on the walls?”

The jokes come from the sense that this kid Merritt, this 24-year-old whose second Major League start just so happens to be Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday, is far from affected by his surroundings — even if those surroundings are a racous Rogers Centre with the Indians trying to close out their first AL pennant in nearly two decades.

“It’s not that he’s naïve,” reliever Dan Otero said. “It’s just that he’s not really into baseball history or anything like that. None of what’s going on fazes him.”

Added teammate Cody Anderson: “He just wants to play [strategy video game] ‘Clash of Clans’ and tune the world out.”

The Indians were actually able to quickly tune out their 5-1 loss Tuesday. This club hasn’t lost four in a row all year, so it obviously has no plans to do so now, to go where only the 2004 Yankees dared to tread.

And really, given all that’s gone on with Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar and now Trevor Bauer and his problematic pinkie, there would be something perversely appropriate about Merritt, plucked from the depths of desperation, coming through in the clutch and pitching this club to the postseason’s highest plateau.

“I think it would be awesome,” Otero said, perhaps stating the obvious. “Remember, he was a big part of us getting home-field advantage. …

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