My heart rate was approaching 100 watching maybe the greatest baseball game I have ever seen. This game had so many heroes, but the final hero with another walk off was Freddie Freeman. In the 18th inning, on a 3-2 pitch, Freddie hit a ball 406 feet over the CF fence. It was a center, center sinker that Freddie did not miss. 7 years ago in WS Game 3, also in Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers went 18 innings before Max Muncy hit a walk-off against Boston. These were the two longest games in WS history.
Oct. 25, 2024, Freddie Freeman hits a walk-off grand slam in World Series Game 1. Oct. 27, 2025, Freddie Freeman hits a walk-off home run in the 18th inning of World Series Game 3. Freddie Freeman is the first player in World Series history with multiple walk-off home runs.
I am a huge advocate for good defense. Toronto had it and early the Dodgers did not, but then the Dodgers did.
Tommy Edman boots a DP ball that set up 4 runs, 2 runs earned. Get the DP, no runs score. Alejandro Kirk hit a 3 run HR to put the Blue Jays up.
After Freddie stole 2nd, Will Smith singled to RF where Addison Barger fielded it and threw a strike home to get Freddie at the plate.
Contrast that with Vlad Guerrero Jr, on 1st, Bo Bichette hit an awkward single that hit strangely off the wall down RF line for a single. Guerrero came all the way around to score when Teoscar made a poor throw home.
With Teoscar on 1st, Kiké Hernández got an infield single that Andrés Giménez threw late to 1st, but Vlad Jr came off the bag and caught the throw in front of 1B, and threw a strike to 3B to get Teoscar for the 3rd out.
Mookie made multiple good plays, but made an error on an Addison Barger ground ball for the Dodgers 2nd error.
But the Dodgers flashed a little leather of their own in the 9th. With a runner on 1st, Daulton Varsho hit a line drive off Freddie’s glove and Tommy Edman slid to field the ball and threw a strike to 3B to get the runner.
Tommy Edman's heads-up play gets a MASSIVE 2nd out in the 9th inning #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/MVNrEf0ln2
— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025
Then in the 10th with 2 outs, Ty France hits a flair into LF for a single and Nathan Lukes followed with a double down the line that Teoscar fielded cleanly at the wall, threw a strike to Tommy Edman, who threw another strike to Will Smith to get PR Davis Schneider at the plate for the 3rd out.
HOLY RELAY
ARE YOU KIDDING ME pic.twitter.com/jOm0SuxxJM
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) October 28, 2025
After the error, Tommy Edman was flashing his GG. The Dodgers do not get to extra innings if Edman does not make those plays.
I am a Tyler Glasnow fan, but even I have to admit that he lets things that do not go right (like an error) get the better of him. He needs to follow Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s lead and let it go. He could have got out of the inning with no runs, but he let the error get the better of him.
Blake Treinen (and Dave Roberts) struck again in the 7th. Justin Wrobleski threw 28 fairly stress free pitches and got the first two outs but Roberts decided that Treinen was a better choice to pitch to Vlad Jr. Wrong choice. Vlad singled. That was followed by that bizarre single off the off the wall down the RF wall that scored Vlad Jr. Treinen then gave up a 3rd straight hit before getting the 3rd out.
Jack Dreyer and Roki Sasaki tip-toed through 2.0 scoreless IP. Emmet Sheehan followed for 2.2 IP. Just like Glasnow, he gave up a leadoff BB to Alejandro Kirk. After a fielders choice and the runner on 3rd, Sheehan IBB Giménez to get to Davis Schneider who hit a dribbler to 3B that turned out to be an infield single.
Summons Clayton Kershaw. He got to 3-2 to Nathan Lukes who hit another dribbler, this time to 2B where Edman made another defensive web gem with a glove scoop throw Freddie to get Lukes at 1B for the 3rd out.
I am so happy for Kershaw who got the Dodgers out of a very tough situation. If this was Clayton’s last game, what a way to go out.
The Dodgers were down to 2 pitchers: Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein. Henriquez entered in the 13th, got two outs but then hit Varsho. He completed one of his best outings of his career, with 2.0 scoreless innings.
Tonight a hero was born. Will Klein entered in the 15th. He got two quick outs and gave up an infield single to Guerrero Jr. before striking out Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He then proceeded to pitch 4.0 scoreless innings allowing 1 infield single and 2 BB with 5 K. He had never pitched more than 2.0 innings before. The most pitches he had thrown in a game was 36. In WS Game 4, he threw 72 pitches (49 strikes).
The acknowledged weakness of this LAD team is the bullpen. The relievers came through in a huge way in this win. Only Blake Treinen allowed a run in 13.1 innings of relief pitching. The two pitchers who were the last pitchers added to the roster were Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein. 6.0 shutout innings. Will Klein got a WS win he will never forget.
Will Klein is FIRED UP in the 18th inning 😤
📺: #WorldSeries on FOX pic.twitter.com/hhVQ6u9grC
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 28, 2025
Offensively, this was another Shohei showcase. Two solo HR, 2 doubles (one run-scoring), four IBB, and one unintentional BB. First MLB hitter to reach base 9 times in a post-season game. He is also the first player with four extra-base hits in a World Series game since 1906.
Teoscar hit a HR and added three singles. Freddie had a run-scoring single before his walk-off.
Kiké Hernández had two singles but struck out 3 times.
In the 13th inning, Edman took an outside pitch and went with it into RC field for a double. Can’t remember the last time I heard that a Dodger hitter went with the pitch. A sacrifice bunt, a pop up, and two IBB brought Freddie to the plate who flew out to CF.
The Dodgers thought they had it won in the 14th when Will Smith hit a ball that would normally go out, but died at the wall. Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie both hit balls they thought were gone but not on this night.
If the Dodgers had not won it in 18, Yamamoto was going to come in and pitch the 19th after pitching a complete game on Saturday.
The game was 6 hours and 39 minutes.
The Dodgers left a lot of runners on base (18), and were 2-14 wRISP. But all anyone will remember is that the Dodgers won on a Freddie Freeman walk-off HR…again.
FREDDIE FREEMAN, OCTOBER LEGEND. #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/SW3XeFihxq
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 28, 2025
Freddie may have walked it off, but the hero of the game was Will Klein. What a performance. The bearded wonder was super human. Absolutely incredible.
Davis had a great line; he said Klein was clean shaven when the game began. Klein is just 25. He and Henriquez make Kopech expendable. Power arms out of the pen are what most teams want. Kersh’s first pitch was 87. But he got the job done.
With the ability to get the hitter to swing at ball four twice, Kersh was great.
I agree. Kopech has pitched his last game as a Dodger. Klein has earned an automatic spot on the 26 man, breaking camp.
Wow….abandoning Kopech this soon? I don’t get it….wasnt he pretty darn good in the playoffs last year?
Kopech pitched very well in the LDS against the Padres. In the LCS and World Series, he was not as effective. He struck out 10 but walked 7 in the two series in just 5.2 innings. He also allowed 5 hits. Kopech will be 30 next April. He makes 5 mil plus and is a free agent. Henriquez is 22. Klein will be 26 next month. At some point the pen needs to be younger. Klein and Henriquez both at MLB minimum.
I saw some comments on the previous post putting a lot of blame on Mookie who had an awful night at the plate, but there was plenty of blame to go around. The team was 2-14 with men in scoring position. It seemed like everybody was trying to hit a walk off homer instead of having some situational hitting. Edman, Rojas, Smith, Freeman and Muncy all had 2-out chances to drive in a runner. LA struck out 13 times, Jays, 16. Smith, who normally is a very good clutch hitter, struck out 4 times. Pages at least made some contact, problem is, he did not get on base at all. He needs to sit and think about things. I have no problem with them putting Kike in Cf and Call in left. Pages at this point in time is way too pull happy. He slipped back into the same mode he was in back in April, when he came () this close to being sent down. Happy for Klein and Henriquez. But I doubt either is available for tonight’s game. Ohtani is going to need to go 7. They need to jump all over Bieber.
Pages is swing straight UP. He had 4 pop-ups one lazy fly balls. He looks like a guy launching fungoes for the catchers. He’s spent on breaking balls and tardy of fastball, a lot. They teach launch but his bat is in the zone at about one contact point.
He’s hitting home runs in an elevator shaft.
Crazy game. Great game. Just an epic for the ages.
To me, Will Klein was Hero #1, followed by Freddie for the walk-off, Shohei for his incredible box score, and then Edman for two great throws that atoned (as the scribes like to say) for his early error.
As for the Jays, I salute the amazing Alejandro Kirk. Gotta love Alejandro.
In about the 10th inning, one broadcaster was suggesting that whichever team prevails will also have a huge psychological advantage going forward. Made sense to me at the time.
But now I find myself thinking that Blue Jays may not feel so discouraged. Everybody knows that the Dodgers are a superteam and the defending champ–and the Jays battled them toe-to-toe.
Still, with Shohei taking the ball tomorrow, I like the Dodgers’ chances.
Thanks for the rundown. I bailed after 12.
Strange game. The two unearned runs early changed everything. Sure would like to see better defense but that is not how the team is constructed.
Should the league consider the ghost runner for the playoffs? I think so. Two more games before a break after a game like that really stresses a roster.
The much maligned bullpen really came through. For both teams. That was a 0-0 game for 8 1/2 innings.
2 for 14 WRISP. They must do better. The strategy will likely be to walk Ohtani and pitch to Betts for the rest of the Series. Will Mookie respond? Can Mookie respond?
After 1-1 the team that wins Game 3 wins the series 60% of the time. Game 4 should be interesting. Sure hope Ohtani is on.
Betts is hitting .133 so far in this series. Toronto will walk Ohtani until Betts makes them pay for it.
The team needs a 2011 David Freese-type performance from somebody other than the top 3 in the lineup. Who is the most likely candidate for that?
It saddens me to see Betts hot then cold then hot….then cold.
Great game!!! Certainly an understatement. After watching Klein throughout the year I thought he has some of the best stuff on the team. The only question was could he throw strikes. He sure proved himself tonight. Henriquiz another one with stuff but inconsistent command. Most happy for the Dodger win but so happy for Kershaw. I was saying no no no when Doc brought him into an almost impossible situation. I could c the headlines Kershaw chokes on another one. I didn’t want him to be the goat. So happy the way that turned out for him. He can hold his head high. As Freeman said his abs kept getting better throughout the game. Are the Dodgers up 2-1 or 3-1 lol?
The dude who batted against him was very generous, swinging at ball 4 twice.
Maligned all year, the bullpen comes through and wins the biggest game of the year! Wow!
A bunch of guys won’t be available tonight. Will Sasaki? He threw 29 pitches. I think Wrobleski has just exceeded expectations thus far along with hero Klein and Henrique. I thought Roberts managed the game very well last night. OTOH Toronto I think made a mistake taking Kirk out but I suppose tonight might vindicate the move. What toll will it take on Will tonight? This game tonight will test the mental toughness of all. Ohtani was clutch last night. He was disciplined at the plate and he can be streaky. He looks like he is in streak mode if he ever sees a strike again. If on, Ohtani has great stuff. The jays can’t pitch around that. If the jays have lost springer it is a big loss. If it is the oblique he is done. Betts has been dismal at the plate but u got to give him an A for effort. Taking batting practice in the middle of the game. I still think their offense has a bigger game in them.
What a team
Been up all night (game started at midnight here) but worth the tiredness today. What a game. Would’ve been gutting to lose that one.
Ultimately Doc pressed the right buttons, but if it had been me, I would have made sure my last pitcher was a bulk guy, Wrobo, Sheehan or Kershaw. He burned CK on one batter, but I was so relieved when he came up trumps. It was a ball that would have Walked in a run, but all’s well that ends well. Turns out Yamamoto was the next Cab off the rank.
I was also surprised by Sneider’s decisions too. No way I’m taking Kirk out at any point. That man is raking. Let’s hope the injury to Springer isn’t anything trivial. My least favourite player.
Its a quick turnaround but I think we’re better equipped to deal with it, although Shohei looked gassed in his post game interview, plus was looking a bit cautious when running the bases, and I would think only Klein and Henriques would be unavailable tonight, possibly Sheehan. Hopefully Roki has some gas left in the tank.
I hope that Alex gets the Call because his at bats looked far more impressive than Pages who has lost his confidence completely. Kiké can play CF.
The HPU got tired too. He wasn’t nearly as good in extras.
Win tonight and things are looking good….
Yoshi was willing to pitch 2 days after his 9 inning game. What about Snell? He would be pitching 3 days after he pitched and 2 days before his next start. Makes more sense for him to come in. Did he volunteer?
Snell is starting tomorrow, and Yama does not start again until Friday. When making that decision, they are looking forward, not backwards.
Actually I think it’s the other way round, Snell only had 2 days before his next outing whereas Yamamoto had 4 days so less impactful if he’d pitched.
Not sure what it would have meant if he’d had to pitch multiple innings though.
Well, that was an amazing game! I hung in there until the end. And, what an ending!!
As Jeff stated in the headline “A Night of Heroes”. Tommy Tanks went from goat to hero defensively. An 18 inning game allows that to happen. The bullpen came through huge for the Dodgers. The offense continued to struggle. Especially with RISP. Freddie came through again with “here, hold my beer” moment.
I can’t remember so many popups in a game. It seemed like every Mookie AB ended with a popup. The Toronto manager finally realized after four extra base hits by Ohtani that walking him was the thing to do followed by Mookie’s futility.
Credit to Phil Jones in his assessment of Will Klein earlier in the season. He felt that Will had the talent and arm to be successful in the Dodger bullpen. I liked his stuff as well. As with many young hard throwing BP prospects control is the issue. Will came into the game and forever cemented his name in Dodger history. Add Wrobleski, Sheehan, and Henriquez to the list of young pitchers who really stepped up. Very happy too that Kershaw possibly ended his Dodger career on a positive note.
Pages and Treinen should be eliminated from further use in this Series.
How does Will Smith come back tonight after catching 18 innings last night?
How effective will Ohtani be tonight after being on base nine times? That could have played into Schnieder’s strategy to walk Ohtani after his first four ABs. To keep Ohtani on his feet. But, with Ohtani it may not make a difference.
I thought Joe Davis had a funny comment. He was complimenting Will Smith’s clutch hitting and catching abilities while Will was at bat and said he might be the most well rounded catcher in baseball. With the 5’8″ 245lb Kirk squatting behind him I thought it might be a misplaced comment. Lol.
Usually the announcers don’t bother me much. But, as Phil Jones and others have mentioned John Smoltz just never stops talking. And Davis with all the stats. I think there was 5 minutes of silence in the 18 inning game.
The 18 inning victory should be considered for two games as therealten suggested. Wouldn’t that be nice.
Looking forward to tonight’s game and seeing how the players react to playing two games yesterday and today. Especially the bullpens.
Carry on.
Agree whole heartedly that Pages and treinen should be placed in cold storage. Better options exist Classic game thanks Jeff for another great synopsis. go dodgers
Pages was 0 for 5 but no strike outs. Muncy 0 for 7 with 3 Ks, Edman 1 for 8 with 2 Ks and Smith was 1 for 6 with 4 Ks. Nobody is going to bench those guys. I think Pages is close. The Dodgers don’t have a centerfielder. He’s the guy. I leave him in there. He’s going to go Freese any day now.
Hey Badger. I think Pages has already gone “Freese” in the postseason. Just awful. I’m a fan of Pages and are patiently waiting for him to start contributing. He has made better contact the last two games. So, maybe there’s some hope for him. Dean is the only legit CF besides Andy. Edman played there last night for a few innings, but he is better at 2B mainly because of his ankle situation.
Other than Freddie and Teoscar the Dodger offense has been very quiet. I don’t think the Blue Jay’s pitchers are that intimidating. Yet the Dodgers are having a heck of time scoring without hitting HRs.
What an idiot I am. Of course Shohei Ohtani is having a monster series after being irrelevant earlier in the postseason. I hope Schneider lets him hit, but I understand if he doesn’t. Toronto better win tonight or the Series could be over on Wednesday.
Then they better lose to get it over with on Wednesday.
Your usually right Badger if you are this time change your name to Houdini
When will Roberts wake up and realize that using Treinen is a mistake.
Doc has to pitch somebody. If you’re on the roster, you have to do your job. Doc had few choices.
He had choices and Treinen has been the wrong one for quite some time now.
Probably never until Treinen is no longer a Dodger. Doc trusts the guy even though the results have not been good. He should not have pulled Wrobleski.
Doc and the nerds believe in the righty v righty and lefty v lefty. Wrobleski was pitching very well, but Doc’s and the nerds’ book says bring in a righty to face Guerrero. When will he learn to trust what he sees on the field? Wrobo got Kirk, Clement, and France, all RH hitters. The only hit came from LH Hitting Barger.
Wow
I’d love to break this game down but I don’t know where to start.
Two quick thoughts.
I love that our younger pitchers (Robo, Sheehan, Edgardo, Klein) are getting incredible experience on the Big Stage! Bodes well for 2026!
Does anyone notice that Pages has virtually no ability to “climb the wall” in center to take away a home run? I noticed this several times this season.
It seems Pages baseball IQ and concentration are very poor.
Jeff, I felt the same on that HR to break up Yamamoto’s no hitter. I don’t know how far over the fence it was hit, but at least show the pitcher and your teammates that you did everything you could to catch the ball and preserve the no hitter. It’s a bad look. He certainly does some weird stuff on the baseball field. He reminds of Matt Kemp who was fantastic athlete, but had no baseball sense whatsoever.
He reminds me more of Yasiel Puig.
That’s one of Jeff’s big complaints about Pages( and rightly so). Pages is adequate in CF but the Dodgers need someone better in ‘26. The situation, as it is right now, is why I thought AF would have traded for Bader.
Yes. It has been a persistent peeve of mine all year. He did the same thing on Jackson Holliday’s HR that broke up Yama’s no hitter. There were plenty of his supporters who swear he could not have caught it. We will never know because he didn’t even try.
He also lets everything hit in from of him drop for a single. He does not see the ball off the bat. He does not run routes well, gets late jumps, does not know how to turn and run to the ball. But there will be those who swear by his defense. He has a GREAT arm. I know that Varsho did not catch Freddie’s HR, but at least he made an attempt. He ran to to the ball and was waiting for it at the wall with Will’s F8.
I will say it again. The Dodgers need an elite defensive CF who can hit, even if not at the elite level. Elite “D” in CF.
As a former college CF I was taught to run to a spot on a ball hit over my head, not cruise back. It’s especially true when trying to catch a ball heading over the fence. He doesn’t do it and to me, moving him to a corner spot wouldn’t do much. As far as coming in on a ball hit directly at you, it’s much easier to gauge the flight of the ball in left or right vs center. I really don’t think it’s easy to teach- as a CF you either have it or you don’t. I don’t think he has it.
I have never been a Pages fan but he did surpass my expectations this year. I wanted Outman’s defense in CF with Pages in RF (until traded) and Teo in LF.
Just for the fun of it and to entertain myself, I offer Glasnow, money, and Pages to the Cubs for Armstrong.
If you were a Cubs fan, would you do that? Depending on the $$$, maybe they would.
I will say that my scouting report on Mark Wegner was pretty accurate. You had to throw it in the dryer from 60 feet.
But I have to give him a shout out; the man had to call 609 pitchers. That has to be a record. I think he needs a day off for resting his body and his eye balls.
Game well played:
Smith, 18 innings and so many blocked balls in the dirt. Some of his at bats showed he was tired but he came so close to hitting a walk off home run.
Sheehan finally getting to start an inning and showing he belongs in the rotation.
Henriques throwing strikes.
Kline going after hitters as if he knew he was going to have to finish the game and couldn’t afford to waste a single pitch so he just threw strikes.
Ohtani using the whole field again and maybe, just maybe, Muncy noticed.
I made it through the 18 innings and so did my wife. It was a great game.
good point Bum. Muncy rolled over a ground ball out to 2nd on a pitch on the corner away that he just can’t pull.
Per Jeff Passan – An hour after one of the best baseball games you’ll ever see, Sandy Koufax made his way into the Dodgers’ clubhouse to applaud Will Klein for what he did on Monday.
How special does Will Klein feel after that?
It was a good idea to wait an hour so that Klien could remember it. Otherwise it would been part of the blur he was experiencing.
What a proud Dad:
Love this
I am a defensive junkie. Two of the best defensive plays we will ever see:
.
How does Edman make this play?
.
Look how far off the bag Guerrero was when he caught the ball and fired to Clement. He know he was not going to get the hitter, so he went after Teo. If he waited at the bag, Teo makes it easily.
.
What an unbelievable game.
So many heroes for both teams. Luckily for the Dodgers they had the biggest heroes of the game. Klein and Freddie.
The much maligned bullpen (sans Treinen) redeemded itself in one gigantiv effort in the biggest game of the year (so far).
Lets hope the Dodgers use this game to catapult them to a back to back WS title.
Mentally the Dodgers should be sky high . With shohei and Snell going next two games the Dodgers are in great shape from a starting pitching standpoint.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the top of the 8th, I texted my Blue Jays fan buddy “this is going to be a really tough loss for one of these teams”. I didn’t expect it that to happen 10 innings later, but regardless.
I wasn’t so worried if we lost that game, as we bounced back right away from tough losses (Yama 8 2/3 no hitter game) and put it behind us. I do wonder how Toronto will deal with it.
Ohtani who must be exhausted but excited, vs the veteran Bieber. Today’s gona be wild.
I wonder who will be available out of the pen today for both teams.
For the Dodgers I assume Henriquez and Klein will be not available for sure. Sasaki and Sheehan probably only in emergency roles.
Kersh and Dreyer, Banda and Treinen should be good to go.I can see Wrobo giving some length if needed.
Lets hope Shohei is not too tired after that marathon game and being on base all 9 times.If we win today I think we finsih them off in game 5.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In an 18 inning game, there are 54 outs to be made. The pull side power happy hitters on the Dodgers had 17 fly outs, 11 pop ups, and 2 line drive outs (trajectory not exit velo). They also had 13 strikeouts. Yes they did get 4 solo HRs, perhaps a residue of their philosophy. But it does not need to be that hard.
This organization’s offensive approach is built on slugging and on base percentage. That is not going to change. What needs to change is improvement on pitch recognition skills.
The first rule of hitting is get a good pitch to hit. We’ve all heard that since we played Little League. This team still chases too much. Something else we’ve heard a lot is this team is among the league leaders in not chasing out of the strike zone. Announcers may be saying that as we watch Ohtani swings at pitches he couldn’t reach with a broom. Teo and Pages chase too. That selection process begins with pitch recognition. If the ball is coming over the plate and you see it spinning forward, you gotta lay off of it. There are teams that are good at it. Milwaukee and Toronto both appear to be pretty good at it.
Show time. I hope all got a good night’s rest.
This off-season, the Dodgers really, really need changes in every aspect of their approach to hitting.
I don’t really think so.
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2025&month=0&season1=2025&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0
Yeah, it’s frustrating to watch Ohtani swing meekly at something out of the strike zone, but it’s not like it’s he’s undisciplined. He’s guessing fastball, the pitcher did a good job tunneling a good slider that fooled him.
I remember as a little kid watching games asking why the batter looked at a fastball right down the middle. Well, now that I know better, it’s because he was looking for something off speed and was fooled. It’s happened in baseball forever, and perhaps happens more now because pitchers throw so much faster, thus reducing the batter’s reaction time to recognize the pitch.
I don’t think that’s really a Dodger problem, nor the fault of Robert Van Scoyoc, or AF.
I’m no expert, but Van Scoyoc is, and from what I’ve read about his methods, the Dodger philosophy does emphasize pitch recognition and an individualized hitting approach with each player based on their unique strengths and weaknesses.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all / pull everything like a caveman with a club approach, IMHO.
I think, aesthetically, many here who have watched baseball for a long time, are pining for the days of Brett Butler drawing a walk or bunting for base hit, going to third on a hit and run play, and scoring on a fly ball.
That’s just not the modern game.
Agree with this.
Hey Patch! Good to see you here.
We chase the hihh pitch a lot
Time for Mookie to make them pay for walking Ohtani. Turn their fear of giving up one run into a crooked number.
Hope your right that would be special. Like Mookie having a tuff series. Jeff is right this team is pull happy.
Jeff what might a Cubs CF Armstrong trade look like, and maybe the Cubs wouldn’t be interested.
I will have to think about this one. PCA will be arb eligible in 2027 and being a super-2 will have 4 years of arbitration, through 2030. I am not sure if the Dodgers have what the Cubs need, or enough prospect capital of what AF/BG might be willing to expend. The Cubs want MLB or very near MLB ready. Their window may be closing but it is still open enough. The Dodgers can give them pitching, but not in the Ace tier. They have zero MLB OF to take Tucker’s place. I do not see Rushing being an option for Chicago. They like Carson Kelly a lot. I do not think LAD synch up well with the Cubs on a trade, but I will try to come up with sonething.
I Appreciate your response looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
We should light up Bieber. Very average stuff
So frustrated with this big hat no cattle offense!
At the risk of being chastised by Bear this game is going to come down to whether or not Mookie can hit in a big time moment. So far, his ABs are futile along the lines of Pages futile.
Mookie’s bat seems slow and loopy. The one pitch line drive to end the 5th inning and the liner to Clement has me encouraged. We’ll see.
Dodgers look tired.
This offense has looked tired for 3 months. Snell will have to be very good tomorrow night
Treinen has no put away pitch. Dodgers offense has shit the bed (so far) against a pedestrian SP.
Bad situational hitting, too many first pitch outs. Not making the pitchers work has killed rallies. Need changes.
Cannot win if you do not score. Situational hitting by this group is abysmal.
Very impressive by Blue Jays. One team has more talent.
The other has more grit.
3 game series. Let’s go!!
I agree Cassidy; they are not a lesser team that just folded. They showed heart
So this is it — now a best 2 out of 3 series.
Considering the travails of their present “offense,” Snell & Yamamoto need to pitch back-to-back gems for the Dodgers to be champions again. They need to be nearly perfect without expecting much run support.
Tall order, but they can do it. ..I think they will do it.
Very disappointing game. I thought the Dodgers would come out sky high, riding the momentum of last nights win to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. But they looked anything but. They looked like they were tired and flat.
Doc left Shohei in too long. But with the way Banda and Treinen looked it did not matter.
offense has to pick up the slack. Snell has to bring his A game today.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think we can expect to see a different line-up tonight.
A night of heros to a night of zeros!
I can’t believe it but Pages and Call have me pining for Conforto!
But it’s not just them. Take away Shohei’s two out of body nights and since the divisional series this entire offense has been just abysmal. Snell and Yamamoto will have to pitch at least 7 with 2 or less runs to win this thing. I would not be very confident with a game 7 in Toronto
Sounds like it.
This offense has been hit and miss all year. Sure would like to see them all come together to finish this.
If it’s me, I’m putting Edman in CF and starting Kim at 2nd. We need his energy.
Even if Edman is limited with his ankle
Excellent idea….anything to get Pages out of the lineup. We can’t wait for the chance he just might bust out. I think he’s choking. That is mental.
Just gotta generate more offense. So I too risk Edman’s ankle in CF, and play Kim or Rojas at 2nd.
I agree with that, and I am sitting Kike too and putting Call out there. Kike has 8 Ks and leads the team.
Never thought this would be an easy series. But started pitching wise, LA still has the edge. Snell needs to be Snellzilla tonight, and more than anything, they need the offense to wake the hell up. Jays are hitting .259 in the series, LA, .214. LA has outhomered the Jays 7-5. But only 3 players hitting above .250 for LA in the series, Smith, Ohtani and Teo. Kike has struck out in half of his at bats, he has never hit RHP all that well anyway. Muncy has 3 hits, and improvement from last year’s series against the Yanks when he had none. Dodgers have struck out 40 times and the Jays 37.
Dodgers with lots of fly outs and pop outs. The Jays (overall) look more for contact and willing to go opposite field. The trend has been against less-than-elite pitching, their bats are more effective than ours.
So for the Dodgers, it comes down to SP. If Snell and Yama pitch their ELITE A games, they got the trophy. If they don’t, Toronto takes it home.
The one Dodger who really needs to step up is Mookie. He has had a bad series. But last night he showed signs that he might have finally found his stroke. He hit a couple of balls really hard.
I thought we weren’t pointing any fingers?
I am not pointing a finger; I am just pointing out that he is just one of the problems. The entire offense is stagnant. Betts is a superstar. He needs to at least play up to his regular season numbers. He has not hit for any power at all this postseason. Unfortunately, he has never really had an outstanding post season. He has played best in the wild card rounds where he has hit .515. The team’s biggest weakness is bad situational hitting at this point.
Interesting that when I pointed out that Mookie wasn’t hitting well and after four IBBs to Ohtani in game #3 your response was “could you do better.”
Now it’s ok to be a bit critical of Mookie? Got it!
You were not pointing out; you were pointing fingers at one guy when the entire team sucked. My point is that he has to be better and he knows it. Mookie is more critical of his performance than we could ever be.
Oh OK, the entire Dodger offense is playing bad right now. Feel better? And no, I still couldn’t do better than any of them.
Dodgers should put Treinen on the IL and activate Casparius. Mookie has had bad series before. In the 21 LCS he all but disappeared. Point in fact is that Betts hits .238 in World Series play. He is a .258 hitter in the post season. His two best World Series were 20 and 24. He hit just .217 in 18 against the Dodgers. But they really need him to be the real Mookie.
And while they are it put Banda on it too. Is Vesia able to return maybe ?
Would rather have Scott than Banda right now.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!
I would agree with that.
He hasn’t batted like the “real Mookie” most of this year. But you’re right, his production is now the key to the Dodgers championship hopes.
One radical idea is to switch Betts and Smith in the batting order.
Smith batting 2nd would conceivably better protect against the Jays pitching around Ohtani. Not advocating this, but right now they’re not really pitching to Ohtani because Betts offers a huge drop-off after him.
Smith is barely hitting above .200 in the series. He is 4-17 with a homer and 4 driven in. But at least he is driving the ball a little.
Mookie looks done. Since the Cincinnati series he is hitting .167 with a .275 OBP. In 54 at bats he has 2 extra base hits. Out of the 2 hole. Why would Toronto ever throw Ohtani a strike with numbers like that out of Mookie?
That 18 innings looked like it had its toll on the Dodgers. They looked old and tired. Toronto looked fine. They look younger and hungrier.
It’s a 3 game series with the final game being played in Canada. Canadians are a little pissed right now. They really want this. How badly do the Dodgers want it?
Some guys rise up under pressure….some guys fold like cheap tents. Mookie for the most part fits the latter. Walking Ohtani to get to Mookie knowing that with Ohtani’s speed he could be in scoring position in one pitch speaks volumes about what the Toronto manager thinks of Mookie.
Why you hate Mookie so much?
Like Mookie. As a Gold Glove RF lead-off man and a 7 oWAR hitter. I expect a drop off after 30, but not like this.
They are younger. The oldest position player is Springer. LA has just 1 player, Pages, in the starting lineup under 30.
WS Game #4. No heroes. Absolutely have to win game 5.
Agree. This is as close to a must win game without being an elimination game as it gets.
Can not go to TOR down 3-2.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
Hope they make some changes in lineup. Not sure what they expected from smith after catching 18 innings. He should have been rested. If Rushing was on roster perhaps he would have been an option with some pop
Put the kid in and give Will PH duties only. Maybe he will be fresher for tomorrow’s game.
Pujols is still in the mix for Padre’s manager. Had his second interview.
It is common practice to send the next days starting pitcher home a day before the last game of a road trip so that he will be rested before his start. I know Ohtani can be the Dodger offense from time to time, but maybe it would have been best if he were rested enough to go 7 or 8 strong innings instead of fatigued after 6.
Treinen was soooo last year. Casperious was a little overused in the regular season but was rested some at the end of the year. He deserved to be on the post-season roster. Decisions, decisions. Some work, some don’t.
To your point about Ohtani, I had a strong suspicion that after playing 18 innings and being on base 9 times in game three, asking him to pitch lights out in game 4 would be a real stretch. Knowing how weak the BP is and how important it was for Ohtani to go deep into the game I would have considered switching Snell with Ohtani. That would have given him a breather and allowed him to prepare more for a start in game 5.
Definitely true Fred. Ohtani has told the Dodgers he is willing to work out of the pen if needed in game 6 or 7.
The Dodgers line-up change for this game must at least include sitting Pages. Yes, he mostly still makes enough contact and his strike outs are not too high, BUT he’s nonetheless not squaring up or driving anything with his contact. He’s constantly too late on FB’s, and too early on breaking off-speed stuff. And with his timing way off, combined with a swing that doesn’t leave the barrel in the zone very long to begin with, ..he’s now an automatic out. He’s done offensively this series.
Betts batting third with Will Smith moved to the #2 in the batting order and Pages to the bench with Call getting a start with Kike presumably to CF.
Well, I earlier suggested moving Smith up to 2nd after Ohtani, and also benching Pages, so I’m not surprised the Dodgers made these moves. But let’s be real and admit making these significant changes this deep into a playoff series has the scent of some desperation coming from the FO. And I’m not comfortable with Kiki playing CF.
But changes like this HAD to be made. Now let’s hope it all works out in our favor.
I would call this a ‘tweak’, not a significant change’. One guy benched who is doing zero and a minor change in batting order.
What is it about Kim that the Dodgers don’t like?
Perhaps they’re just not ready to risk Edman’s ankle in CF, so they chose him to stay at 2nd, with Kiki sliding over to center. But I don’t know, maybe they just hate Kim’s bat.
Good question.
Wow! Quite a start. Outside of Yamamoto, Toronto bats making our other 3 #1’s looking like #5’s. Betts looks much better batting 3rd.
Just got punched in the mouth. Will the Dodgers punch back or roll over and take the TKO?
Teo strikes again! How many blooper, seeing eye hits have they got as opposed to our constant pop ups!
No contest between these 2 defenses
Are we all seeing this?
Well done Blake! Great recovery after the first two batters. Teo gave away the third run.
Their hitters are better than our pitchers.
Their pitchers are better than our hitters.
Their defense is much better.
They run the bases better.
And the series goes back to Toronto.
Hard to see a path to victory.
These past two games have just been pathetic!
Offense has been bad but just think about this sad truth. Yates and Scott were so ineffective this year they didn’t even make the post season roster. $31 million dollars lost.
Plus $17 million for Conforto
It is a bummer seeing the “bad’ version of the Dodgers these last two games. After this ugly game ends, they get a day off and a reset. It’s baseball: anything can happen in the last two games. I am not giving up on this bunch — they have already far exceeded what I thought they would accomplish — so I am ready to have them step up, right the ship, and be clutch!!
Lets go make some history!
At or near the top of the Dodgers line-up is a (briefly) career “star batter”–Teo, and 2 certifiably career “superstar batters”–Freddie & Mookie.
Now ALL 3 of them are aging, and on the downside of their careers as hitters.
And so for them to have any hope of maintaining a level of performance that would even come close to approximating their prime years, they’ll HAVE TO change/alter their swings to adjust to the realities that Father Time is pushing on them now. And from what I’ve seen this year, these changes/alterations must start as early as this coming off-season.
So in short, it comes down to whether or not RVS–as the Dodgers hitting “guru”–can really successfully instruct those guys to navigate this path.
Sorry to be negative Nancy, but I seriously doubt he’s capable of doing this. And I’m not backing off that stance.