Both the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers face challenges heading into Game 6 of the World Series tonight. But after a twist of fate, it is the Dodgers who are fighting for survival, while the Jays see a chance to write the ending to their story book.
With a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, Team Canada is just one win away from capturing its first championship in more than three decades, while the heavily favored Dodgers now face the possibility of elimination.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider says his ballclub is looking forward to winning the World Series in front of a home crowd at Rogers Center in Toronto.
Rookie starter Trey Yesavage pitched a pitching practice to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5, sending the Jays back to Toronto with a chance to win the World Series.
“Any time you start spring training, this is where you want to end,” Schneider said Thursday. “This is the story of the 2025 Blue Jays. Pretty cool.”
In Game 6, Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers. The latter two faced each other in the second game, when Yamamoto played a complete game, and Dodgers won 5-1.
But the Jays captain may be downplaying the pressure his team is under to deliver a championship to Canadian fans hungry for World Series glory.
Pressure on Los Angeles
However, fans, analysts and even the Dodgers themselves now seem to believe that the real pressure is on Los Angeles, a storied baseball franchise on the brink of postseason elimination.
“We've got to find a way to win one game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday.
To repeat their World Series title, the Dodgers must beat the Blue Jays twice at Rogers Center. This may be difficult given Toronto's strong track record playing at home this season.
Baseball Writer Ken Rosenthal says The struggling Dodgers need to get back-to-back wins. in Toronto, a city where fans “Eagerly and loudly anticipating the team's first World Series title since 1993. “
Toronto is hopeful the Blue Jays can win their first World Series title in more than 30 years. A Game 6 or 7 win over Toronto and the Jays would lead to a victory over the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jays superfan Leslie Mack says the team has some cushion with two games left where they can win it all.
“And they will win everything,” she said via email. “Because they are the best team.”
“The work is not yet finished”
The players have plenty to say about how close they are to victory, but they admit there is still work to be done.
“It’s not for nothing that there are seven games and you have to win four of them,” Davis Schneider told reporters after their 6-1 win in Game 5 over the Dodgers. Wednesday.
“We just need to win one more and hopefully we don't have to go to Game 7,” said Schneider, whose first homer on the first pitch of Game 5 got the Jays on the scoreboard very early.
“The job is not done yet,” said Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who followed Schneider to the plate in Game 5 and hit another solo home run in Game 1 of the World Series. started with back-to-back homers..
Veteran starter Max Scherzer says the Jays can't get complacent heading into Game 6.
“Obviously we're one step closer, but things can change in the blink of an eye — we've seen that,” said Scherzer, a 41-year-old two-time World Series champion who hopes to add to that tally.
“We know we have to come out and play ball, we have to play our game, we have to find a way to win and just lead 1-0.”
Jerry Howarth, the longtime Blue Jays radio play-by-play announcer who called Toronto's final World Series games in 1992 and 1993, says the team has not been let down by the ups and downs of the baseball season.
He says that's what has helped them throughout this playoffs.
“They just take it one game at a time without even looking back or forward,” the former broadcaster said in an email.
Can the defending champions bounce back?
The Dodgers are the defending champions and have won two of the last five World Series titles (2020 and 2024).
However, they found themselves on the verge of elimination from Toronto after back-to-back losses in Games 4 and 5.
“Baseball is a tough game, and it’s been tough for us the last two days,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. after Wednesday's defeat.
But 2024 World Series MVP also says the Dodgers shouldn't be counted out.
“We've been in this situation before, like last year, and we can do it again,” Freeman said, pointing to the Dodgers' comeback from a 2-1 series loss in the playoffs last year.
This happened in Divisional Series vs. San Diego Padresin which the Dodgers battled their way to an eventual best-of-five series victory, but it was at a lower level of the playoffs.
More importantly, Los Angeles did not face the 2025 Blue Jays, a team that defeated New York Yankees, hit by Seattle Mariners and now the Dodgers' backs are against the wall.
Experts see problems for the Dodgers
Some sports pundits are now signaling that their earlier expectations of Dodgers dominance may have been too high.
“I'm afraid the hugely successful Los Angeles Dodgers just lost the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays,” sportscaster Skip Bayless. wrote on Xjust a few days after he grinned sarcastically on Toronto's chances.
Los Angeles Times sportswriter Bill Plaschke said after Game 5 that the Dodgers no longer looked like a team to beat.
“Former favorites are now clear underdogs.” he wrote in the column after the Jays beat the Dodgers 6-1 on Wednesday.
Game 6 begins Friday in Toronto at 8:00 pm ET.
