TORONTO — Miguel Rojas sprawled across the dirt, the baseball firmly enclosed within his glove, a Game 7 somehow on the horizon. All around him, the Los Angeles Dodgers pumped their fists and shredded their lungs. Inside the dugout of the Toronto Blue Jays, disbelief took hold. This season was not yet over, not after a heart-stopping ending to a 3-1 Dodgers victory.
On the mound, Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow burst into a smile and accepted hugs from his teammates. He had been called into emergency relief as the Blue Jays battered closer Roki Sasaki and appeared on the verge of a walkoff championship victory. A ground-rule double by Toronto outfielder Addison Barger left two runners in scoring position with none out in the ninth.
It would be hard to script a less desirable spot for Glasnow, who was slated to pitch in Game 7. It would be hard for Blue Jays fans to stomach the ending. After a one-pitch pop-up by third baseman Ernie Clement, Toronto infielder Andres Giménez scalded a liner into left field. Dodgers outfielder Kiké Hernández charged forward to catch the baseball and made a strong peg to Rojas. The throw beat Barger back to second base for a stunning double play that sent Rojas stumbling and this series to the limit.
The World Series will go the distance for the first time since 2019. A classic could await in the finale: Shohei Ohtani is likely to start for the Dodgers. Trey Yesavage, the rookie sensation, could appear in relief behind future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. Each manager will be expected to empty his proverbial kitchen sink of pitchers — such are the rules of engagement for a Game 7. Even Glasnow said he would be available after throwing three pitches on Friday.
“This is Game 7,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So there’s a lot of things that people haven’t done, and you’ve just got to trust your players and try to win a baseball game.”
To get there, the Dodgers fended off the feisty Blue Jays lineup inside the cauldron of noise at Rogers Centre. Mookie Betts delivered his biggest hit of a quiet October. Yoshinobu Yamamoto supplied six innings of one-run baseball. The Dodgers bullpen made life interesting, as they tend to do.
“Wild,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Wild way to finish it, that’s for sure.”
Mookie clutch! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/XXRaDUZ1wC
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 1, 2025
The series returned to Toronto after three bruising games at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers outlasted the Blue Jays across the 18 innings of Game 3. Toronto responded by trouncing the Dodgers the next two nights. The Blue Jays were dinged, with Bo Bichette nursing his knee and George Springer limited by discomfort in his side. The pride of the Dodgers was dented, the entire lineup stuck in a rut.
On Thursday, the Dodgers experienced some unintentional levity. Roberts offered to race speedy rookie Hyeseong Kim around the bases. From first base, Kim spotted several feet to his 53-year-old manager, who once stole 49 bags in a season. Roberts offered proof that the summer of 2006 was long ago. As he cut across the edge of the grass near second base, Roberts blew a tire and face-planted in the dirt. He heaved himself up and pretended to favor his right hamstring.
“That,” Roberts declared on Friday, “will be the last full sprint I ever do in my life.”
A more encouraging display occurred when Ohtani took batting practice. Because Ohtani so rarely takes swings outside before games, his B.P. is considered a must-see. He clobbered baseballs over the right-field fence, including one that reached the Corona Rooftop Patio in the third deck.
The team needed a reset. In the final two games at Dodger Stadium, the group went hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position. In the third inning of Game 6, Tommy Edman broke up a dominant stretch from Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman by whacking a first-pitch fastball for a double. Gausman had struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced, but he ran into trouble as the lineup turned over. After an intentional walk of Ohtani, catcher Will Smith dug out a splitter for an RBI double.
A walk by Freddie Freeman set the table for Betts. He had not batted fourth since 2017. For most hitters, the cleanup spot would not be considered a demotion. But Betts has resided on that elite plane in which managers design their lineups around getting him as many at-bats as possible. He led off for the Dodgers until Ohtani arrived, at which point he became the No. 2 hitter.
Roberts rationalized the demotion by encouraging Betts to simplify his approach. All Betts needed to do was drive in runs. Even after he fell behind in the count to Gausman, Betts cracked a fastball into left field to bring home Ohtani and Smith.
“We talked about letting the game come to him a little bit,” Roberts said. “And he got a huge hit for us.”
Toronto clawed back a run in the bottom of the frame. Outfielder Addison Barger led off with a triple. Two batters later, Springer stepped to the plate. Springer had missed the previous two games with discomfort in his right side. The discomfort remained visible as he grimaced after each swing on Friday. He still managed to smash an RBI single off a cutter from Yamamoto.
Yamamoto steadied himself to slip through the middle innings. After Bichette hit a one-out single in the fourth, Yamamoto jammed outfielder Daulton Varsho with a splitter to start a 4-6-3 double play. An inning later, he fanned catcher Alejandro Kirk with a stomach-turning splitter and froze Barger with a 97-mph fastball for another strikeout. Because Yamamoto possesses so many weapons, his fastball can turn hitters into statues.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto continued his excellent postseason. (John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)
The Toronto lineup turned over for a third time to open the sixth. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stayed back on a curveball and flicked the ball off the left-field wall for a two-out double. As the lefty Wrobleski warmed in the Dodgers bullpen, Bichette walked. Roberts stuck with Yamamoto against Varsho, a left-handed hitter. Yamamoto rewarded the manager for his faith. Varsho swung over a devilish splitter to strand the runners as Yamamoto exited the stage.
“It wasn’t his nine-inning complete game like he’s done recently, but yeah, six strong innings from him, we needed it,” Smith said.
The Blue Jays maintained their unrelenting pressure against the Dodgers’ relievers. Roberts hoped Sasaki could record six outs. The first three were not easy. Sasaki threw 25 pitches in the eighth as he worked around a leadoff single by Springer and a walk by Guerrero.
An inning later, Sasaki clipped Kirk with an errant splitter. Five pitchers later, Barger smashed an elevated fastball to the wall. The ball cleared the head of Dodgers defensive replacement Justin Dean. When he saw the ball wedged underneath the base of the wall, he threw his arms skyward to signal that the ball was stuck. Barger and pinch runner Myles Straw kept running, which sent the crowd into a frenzy, one only quelled when the umpires ruled the play a ground-rule double.
“Been here a long time,” Schneider said. “I haven’t seen a ball get lodged ever. Just caught a tough break there.”
Instead of Straw scoring, he returned to third base. Barger settled at second. Glasnow entered the fray as the crowd began to ponder a sequel to Joe Carter’s walkoff in 1993.
It was not to be. Clement popped up. Giménez’s liner hung up long enough for Hernández to come charging. And Barger was caught in no man’s land, unable to beat the throw that sent Rojas to the ground, the Dodgers into celebration, the Blue Jays into shock, and this series into Game 7.