The Los Angeles Dodgers needed a hero on Saturday night to stay on pace with the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 World Series, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered in spectacular fashion. After Friday’s brutal 11-4 collapse exposed several of the team’s most glaring vulnerabilities, Yamamoto turned back the clock with a complete-game masterpiece to even the World Series at one game apiece. The question for the Dodgers heading home to Los Angeles: Which team will show up over the next three games?
Blue Jays Execute in Game 1
Everything we predicted in our preview column materialized Friday night at Rogers Centre. Toronto executed their gameplan perfectly — working counts, refusing to chase and grinding Blake Snell into submission. After working Snell for 29 pitches in a scoreless first inning, the Blue Jays continued to make him labor.
The Dodgers grabbed an early 2-0 lead on RBI singles from Enrique Hernández and Will Smith, but it felt fragile. Daulton Varsho erased that advantage with a fourth-inning two-run homer — the first Snell had allowed to a lefty all season. Warning signs were everywhere.
The sixth inning brought disaster. After Bo Bichette walked and Alejandro Kirk singled, Snell hit Varsho to load the bases with nobody out. Skipper Dave Roberts pulled him at 100 pitches, and the bullpen subsequently imploded.
Nine Blue Jays batters came to the plate. Nine runs crossed. Addison Barger‘s three-run blast off Anthony Banda made it 8-2, and Kirk added another two-run shot to complete the carnage. Final score: 11-4.
Toronto had exposed the Achilles’ heel — get to the Los Angeles bullpen, and watch the Dodgers crack.
Dodgers Rebound in Game 2
Saturday was a must-win, and Yamamoto knew it. He went the full nine innings, allowing just one run on 105 pitches while retiring the final 20 batters in order. It was old-school dominance against a lineup that feasts on grinding out at-bats.
The first three innings were shaky — 46 pitches through three frames with one run allowed. But Yamamoto settled down, mixing his six-pitch arsenal with surgical precision. From the fourth inning on, he was untouchable.
Smith broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh with a solo homer, and Max Muncy followed with another blast to extend the lead. Those timely long balls gave Yamamoto the cushion he needed to close out his historic performance — the first back-to-back complete games in the postseason since Curt Schilling in 2001.
Back to Los Angeles
Toronto proved they can execute their plan and punish mistakes. The Dodgers proved they still have the star power to answer back. Now comes the critical homestand.
The series shifts to Dodger Stadium for the next three games with the series tied 1-1. Tyler Glasnow gets the ball for Game 3 on Monday, followed by Shohei Ohtani making his first World Series start in Game 4 on Tuesday.
It’s the same rotation alignment that swept the Brewers in the NLCS, and Dave Roberts is banking on his aces to reclaim control of this series. After Ohtani’s historic three-homer, 10-strikeout performance in the pennant clincher, expectations are sky-high for what he can deliver on his home territory.
Former Dodger and future hall-of-famer Max Scherzer will start Game 3 for Toronto.
Think Blue Planning Committee 