Under the closed roof of Rogers Centre, the hum of anticipation gave way to the electricity of October baseball — the kind that shakes through concrete, rattles through hearts, and lingers in memory.
The Toronto Blue Jays could smell history, their first World Series title in over three decades within reach. But across the diamond stood a Los Angeles Dodgers team that refused to blink, the same team that’s lived through heartbreak, hope, and headlines. On this Friday night, with their season teetering on the edge, the Dodgers found just enough life to fight another day.
Behind a rejuvenated swing from Mookie Betts, and six composed innings from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers hung on to beat the Blue Jays 3-1 in Game 6 to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in the 2025 World Series.
“We’re going to leave it all out on the field,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts of Game 7 on Saturday. “I don’t think the pressure of the moment is going to be too big for us. We’re going to go out there and win one baseball game. We’ve done it all year. I couldn’t be more excited to get to sleep and wake up to play a Game 7 tomorrow.”
But before Game 7, there was Game 6, not just an elimination game, but survival — stitched together with discipline, guts, and the faint pulse of belief that’s carried them from Tokyo, Japan in March, to Toronto, Canada in November.
“Last year we started in Korea and played all the way to the World Series. This year we went to Japan and did everything for baseball that we’re supposed to do, and then here we are playing in the last game of the season again,” said Dodgers’ second baseman Miguel Rojas. “It’s been a long journey for the team, for the organization, for every player out here that had the opportunity to do that. It’s been really stressful and everybody’s mentally tired, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse. We still have the goal to win the World Series, which has been the goal ever since we got to spring training, and now we have the opportunity to win this.”
Kevin Gausman had been Toronto’s ace, their heartbeat, their constant. For the first nine Dodgers batters, he was unhittable — otherworldly, even. Eight of them went down on strikes, flailing at a split-finger that looked like it was defying physics. His eight strikeouts in three innings set a new World Series record, and the Rogers Centre crowd responded like thunder, believing they were watching the coronation of a champion 32 years in the making.
But baseball is cruel that way — the moment you think you’ve seen perfection, the game reveals its impermanence.
In the top of the third, the Dodgers’ bats, dormant since that 18-inning marathon earlier in the series, flickered back to life. Tommy Edman cracked a one-out double into the right-field corner. Will Smith followed with a clean single up the middle, tying the rhythm of Gausman’s dominance into a knot.
And then, with the bases loaded and the season hanging on his bat, Mookie Betts — the reconfigured cleanup hitter — laced a two-run single that split the left side of the infield and silenced the crowd.
In a blink, it was 3–0 Los Angeles.
Betts, who entered the night with questions surrounding his October form, found redemption in that swing — a reminder that greatness doesn’t always need fireworks, sometimes just a well-timed flick of the wrists.
“It felt great to come through for the boys,” said Betts of his two-run single. “I know how much we lean on each other, and so to come through for them felt really good.”
Toronto clawed back in the bottom half, refusing to go quietly. Addison Barger, the 25-year-old sparkplug who’s become the unsung hero of this postseason, led off with a double off Yamamoto. Two batters later, George Springer — the herot of October baseball in this city — singled him home to make it 3–1. The dome shook again.
“He battled his ass off for that hit,” said Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider of Springer’s RBI single.
But that was as far as the noise carried.
Yamamoto, the stoic right-hander from Japan, found rhythm amid chaos. His fastball painted corners, his splitter dove beneath barrels, and his poise under pressure mirrored the calm of a man who’s pitched in Tokyo’s brightest spotlight. Six innings, one run, five hits, six strikeouts. When he handed the ball to Dave Roberts after 96 pitches, he’d given the Dodgers exactly what they’d been desperate for — a chance.
“I was ready for another inning, but my job, the most important part was to protect our lead and then pass it to the guys coming behind me,” said Yamamoto after the game.
From there, Los Angeles’ bullpen — shaky, unpredictable, often maddening — held its breath.
Justin Wrobleski took the ball for the seventh, dancing on a tightrope of nerves and adrenaline, each out felt like a small miracle. Then came Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old rookie whose fastball touches 101 mph and whose composure belies his age.
He put the tying run on base in Vladimir Guerrero Jr, but wiggled out of the jam retiring Daulton Varsho on a groundout to second to send it to the 9th.
The game ended on a spectacular play by Kiké Hernández in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on second and third and one out, Gimenez hit a liner to left field that was snagged by Hernández on the run. He quickly threw to second base to double up Barger and send the World Series to a Game 7.
“I was playing shallow with the tying run on second base. For a split second, as Glasnow threw the ball, the stadium got quiet. I was able to hear that the bat broke, so I got a really good jump on the ball,” said Hernández of the game-ending double play. “The ball fell out of the lights and landed in my glove. I felt the runner on second was too far off the bag. I was running full speed and didn’t want to throw too hard. What a great pick by Miggy [Miguel Rojas]. We were able to get the double play and force a Game 7.”
The Dodgers dugout erupted. Roberts exhaled. Game 3 starter, Tyler Glasnow, who entered the game in the bottom of the ninth in relief for Sasaki, calm as ever, simply lowered his head and walked off the mound — the weight of October light resting on his shoulders.
For a team that’s spent the past two weeks swinging between heartbreak and resilience, this was more than just a win. It was proof that heartbeat still matters.
Game 7 now awaits under the roof of the Rogers Centre with the calendar flipping to November. Two historic franchises, both chasing immortality.
The Toronto Blue Jays, one win from ending a 32-year drought.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, one win from becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships in 25 years. The dawning of a dynasty.
And as baseball has taught us time and again, sometimes destiny doesn’t belong to the team with the best numbers or the biggest stars. It belongs to the ones who simply keep breathing — one pitch, one inning, one game at a time.
On Sunday night in Toronto, the 2025 World Series will give us one more breath. One last swing. One final truth.
“It’s Game 7 of the World Series at your home stadium. I mean, what the hell else do you want?” said Schneider.
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Source: NBC Los Angeles