By Mitch Bannon, Fabian Ardaya and Tyler Kepner

The Los Angeles Dodgers used their battery power to unplug the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night at Rogers Centre. Starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto tossed the first World Series complete game in a decade — and his second in a row this postseason — and catcher Will Smith hit the go-ahead homer and drove in three runs in a 5-1 Dodgers victory that tied the series at one apiece.

Dodgers still aren’t hitting homers like last year

Here’s the thing about the Dodgers’ World Series run a year ago — it was fueled by their bullpen but was predicated on an offense that churned out runs and slugged their way through October. In 16 games, LA hit 29 home runs, flexing on opposing pitchers while not having to string hits together to manufacture runs (though they did that also).

They entered Game 2 Saturday with 14 home runs in 11 games this postseason. The Dodgers have averaged 4.55 runs per game after averaging 5.93 last October. They’ve run into a buzzsaw with some of the pitching they’ve faced, but they’ve had a power outage after leading the National League with 244 home runs in the regular season.

They had several hittable pitches early in Game 2 against Kevin Gausman, who left several fastballs early in counts over the heart of the plate and didn’t pay for it much. A Freddie Freeman double and Smith single scored a run in the first inning, but missed chances on fastballs allowed Gausman to use his splitter more effectively and mow down what should be a much more potent lineup than the Dodgers have shown.

Gausman retired 17 batters in a row, until Smith hit his first blast of the postseason, a shot to left in the seventh to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, Max Muncy homered to left to make it 3-1 and give the Dodgers some breathing room.

ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED. pic.twitter.com/jaFdnfXDHr

— MLB (@MLB) October 26, 2025

Blue Jays wore down Yamamoto until they didn’t

Toronto had Yamamoto up to 46 pitches through three innings, putting the leadoff man on in each of the first three frames. It was the same script as Game 1, forcing the Dodgers’ starter to pile on added pitches and labor through long innings. The plan: get to Los Angeles’ bullpen quickly — that’s when the runs can arrive.

“We’re grinding him,” Schneider told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal during the broadcast, “which is kind of what we’re trying to do. He’s got really good stuff. Five pitches, you got to be ready to hit a mistake, but at the same time, you got to really, really focus on areas.”

But then the grinding stopped.

Yamamoto cruised through the fourth and fifth innings on just 14 pitches. He threw 11 in the sixth. Addison Barger flew out on one pitch, Ernie Clement lasted just two deliveries and multiple Jays were out on three. That aggression can work for Toronto, as it has all season, but only if early swings turn into hits. Otherwise, against this strong Dodgers pitching staff, the Jays have to wage war on short at-bats and get to the bullpen as soon as possible. They didn’t on Saturday.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired the final TWENTY hitters he faced 🤯 pic.twitter.com/WJ4Ooz5l8h

— MLB (@MLB) October 26, 2025

Yamamoto has proven doesn’t rattle easily

The story has been scripted into the lore around Yamamoto: his first postseason run started with a crisis of confidence. The undisputed best pitcher in Japan’s transition to Major League Baseball was uneasy, with strong numbers, a shoulder injury and no real feel for how to attack American hitters.

It all still felt so new. So before what would be Game 5 of the National League Division Series, Kiké Hernández took Yamamoto to breakfast. He reassured the $325 million ace, a lesson that rebuilt Yamamoto’s form and sent him on a run in October. Yamamoto has rarely blinked since.

In his first World Series start last October against the New York Yankees, Yamamoto pitched into the seventh inning. He followed his rookie year with a dominant wire-to-wire season in 2025. He’s been brilliant this October, and was coming off the first Dodgers postseason complete game since José Lima in 2004 when Yamamoto took the mound for Game 2.

When he found trouble, he didn’t blink. George Springer roped an 0-2 pitch for a double to lead off the night, and Nathan Lukes followed with a bloop single to bring up the most feared hitter this postseason in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Yamamoto rallied out of an 0-2 count, daring Guerrero with four straight splitters before getting him to strike out on a curveball. It was just Guerrero’s fourth strikeout all October. Yamamoto fell behind the next two hitters, as well, but somehow got out of it without a run scoring.

He largely cruised from there, adding to what is quickly becoming a glittering postseason resume, becoming the first pitcher since Curt Schilling in 2001 to throw complete games in consecutive postseason starts.

Gausman goes far but it wasn’t enough

Gausman had never finished the sixth inning in a playoff outing. His last three October starts all ended with two outs in the fifth. It appeared a fall wall that Gausman couldn’t break through, until Saturday.

With 17-straight batters retired in the middle innings of Game 2, Gausman pushed beyond the sixth and into the seventh with brilliant efficiency. It was new heights for the 34-year-old. He was flying high until Smith and Max Muncy ended Gausman’s day with home runs. After the longest start of his postseason life, Gausman tossed his gum and walked off the mound to a raucous applause.

It was, in many ways, a brilliant outing for the veteran righty. But Yamamoto was simply better. If the pair matches up again in Game 6, either Gausman must be essentially perfect or the Jays’ bats must find a way against Yamamoto — neither are simple asks.