by Cary Osborne
There is nothing the Dodgers can do about the past.
They have a game on Friday in Toronto and have to win it. And if they win that game, they have to win on Saturday in Toronto to win the World Series.
The past, though, has put them in this position.
The Dodgers had next to no answer for Blue Jays rookie starting pitcher Trey Yesavage in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers lost 6–1 and trail 3–2 in the best-of-seven World Series.
“We all know what we’re capable of and we haven’t done it for two games,” said Freddie Freeman. “So maybe a day off will cool them down over there and reignite us.”
The Dodgers have to fix things of the past.
The offense continued to putter along on Wednesday. Yesavage struck out 12 batters over seven innings after flipping his pitch usage from Game 1 and piling up strikes with his slider and splitter.
Outside of Kiké Hernández’s third inning solo home run and two hits from Teoscar Hernández, the Dodgers did nothing against Yesavage.
They swung and missed 24 times. That is the most induced whiffs by a pitcher in a World Series game in the Pitch Tracking Era (since 2008).
The Blue Jays started the game with back-to-back home runs from Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off Dodger starter Blake Snell. Snell was charged with five earned runs in the game. The Blue Jays had 10 baserunners against the left-hander in 6 2/3 innings.
The way the Blue Jays are hitting against the once invincible Dodger starting rotation — outside of Yoshinobu Yamamoto — something needs to happen.
One area is the big inning. The Dodgers haven’t scored more than two runs in an inning in this World Series. That’s 54 innings. The Dodgers have put up a crooked number in four of them.
The Dodgers have 13 extra-base hits in this series — five belong to Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani and Hernández are 13-for-40 (.325) in this series. The rest of the offense is 25-for-149 (.168).
“For us as a group, it’s been tough, and it’s hard for our pitching staff to have to go every game uphill,” said Kiké Hernández. “We’re not really doing much as an offense, and whenever we get a chance, we don’t capitalize. We’re going through ones of those funks right now. It’s really bad timing to have in the World Series. The day off couldn’t come at a better time.”
The Dodgers have struck out 55 times to 17 walks.
Kevin Gausman, who held the Dodgers to one run through the first six innings in Game 2, before allowing home runs to Will Smith and Max Muncy in the seventh, is the Blue Jays’ Game 6 starter.
No Blue Jays starter has been announced for a potential Game 7.
From a pitching standpoint, the Dodgers will have Yoshinobu Yamamoto lined up for Game 6, six days after he pitched a complete game in Toronto to lead the Dodgers to a 5–1 victory. Tyler Glasnow would be lined up for a Game 7, with what would be an all-hands-on-deck game, meaning Shohei Ohtani could be a factor.
Roki Sasaki will be rested.
Will Klein, Justin Wrobleski, Emmet Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw will all head to Toronto having not pitched in the last two World Series games.
Blake Snell could even be on a throw day in Game 7, which might make him an option.
But first, Game 6.
“I expect Yamamoto to throw well,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But we still got to take good at-bats and play, catch the baseball, convert outs; and if we play a good clean game, I feel good about our chances.”
2025 World Series: The Dodgers are looking for fixes as they head to Toronto down 3–2 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.