Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025

The object of baseball is to outscore the opponent, and you win the game. Somebody needs to remind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

From the first pitch by Blake Snell, the Toronto Blue Jays led. Their rookie starter, Trey Yesavage, was outstanding for seven innings.

On Friday, the Toronto Blue Jays walloped the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-to-1. Kiké Hernàndez hit a solo home run. The Dodger defense made several poor plays that should have made but didn’t count as errors.

While coming into the World Series, the Dodgers were heavily favored, but the Blue Jays are a complete team. When the Dodgers give them an extra base, the Blue Jays always take advantage.

Snell has a bad pitching line because Edgardo Henriquez couldn’t strand the inherited runners in the seventh. Also, Teoscar Hernàndez misplayed a simple single into a triple. Moreover, Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts didn’t turn obvious double plays, forcing Snell make more pitches than he ought to.

Snell pitched enough for the Dodgers to win.

Before the game, Dave Roberts shuffled the lineup and benched Andy Pages, who had slumped throughout the postseason. He put Will Smith in the second spot in the lineup. Mookie Betts was in the third spot.

Nothing worked against the Yesavage. He struck out 12 Dodgers and issued no walks. The Dodgers tried to work the counts, but Yesavage was always in the strike zone. Before the postseason, the 22-year-old Yesavage made only two major league starts. He wasn’t bothered by the World Series nerves. It was hard to determine if Yesavage was brilliant or the Dodgers’ offense was slumping.

For the first time during this postseason, the 2024 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers face elimination. If they can score early and frequently and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitches well, they will force Game 7. If they don’t, the Dodgers will have a difficult offseason. No team that swept the LCS has ever won the World Series.