LOS ANGELES — As the Dodgers played out their final inning at Dodger Stadium this year, an isolated voice in what had been a sellout crowd tried to get a chant going: “The Series isn’t over!”
That drew some scattered cheers, but they soon faded back into the resigned feeling that had permeated the ballpark atmosphere well before the Dodgers’ 6-1 loss in Game 5 of the World Series was final.
It was already a given that the Fall Classic would be decided in Toronto, with the Series tied at two games apiece heading into Wednesday evening’s contest. But all of a sudden, the Blue Jays are one win away from a championship while the Dodgers are on the brink, facing elimination for the first time since the 2024 NL Division Series.
“I think there’s more in there. I know there’s more in there,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve won two games in a row, but again, it just comes down to one game. I think that we have been in a lot of elimination games, and we found a way to get to the other side.”
History is against the Dodgers. In any best-of-seven postseason series tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won the series 46 of 68 times (67.6%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams taking a 3-2 lead by winning Game 5 on the road — before returning home for Games 6 and 7 — have gone on to win the series 20 of 27 times (74.1%).
Odds are merely odds after all, and the Dodgers have beaten them before. Then again, they lost Game 5 in no small part because they found themselves on the wrong side of World Series history.
The first three pitches of the ballgame largely set the tone for the rest of the evening. Blake Snell caught too much of the plate on a first-pitch fastball to Davis Schneider, who sent it sailing into the left-field seats. Snell made a similar mistake two pitches later, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made him pay, marking the first time in World Series history a team has gone back-to-back to lead off a game.
“First pitch of the game, fastball up and in. It’s 98 and up. Unlucky,” Snell said. “And then Vlad, that’s just a bad pitch.”
Then the Blue Jays’ Trey Yesavage took the mound for a history-making performance of his own. Aside from giving up a solo homer to Kiké Hernández in the third inning, Yesavage was firmly in command.
Yesavage carved through the Dodgers’ lineup across seven innings, rewriting a rookie World Series record that had not been touched in 76 years with 12 strikeouts, dethroning Don Newcombe (11 in 1949 with the Brooklyn Dodgers). The 22-year-old righty scattered three hits and did not issue a walk.
The bullpen was leaky once again, but it didn’t really matter after a lineup shakeup did nothing to revitalize the offense. The Dodgers know they’re capable of being better, but they have limited time to figure things out.
If the Dodgers can take anything away from being down 2-1 in the 2024 NLDS, then coming back to win the World Series, it’s that they need to keep fighting. They feel good about their chances of forcing a Game 7, especially with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound in a winner-take-all Game 6.
“We’ve had our backs against the wall a lot this year,” Will Smith said. “Fighting through injuries, fighting through expectations and all that. This is a tough group, and I got no problem going in there and winning two games.”
Beyond Yamamoto, who’s coming off back-to-back complete games, the Dodgers should have all hands on deck if the series goes the distance. Shohei Ohtani could be available in relief starting with Game 6. Tyler Glasnow is lined up to start Game 7, and Snell said he would also be available in some capacity.
The rotation has been the Dodgers’ strength this postseason, and the Blue Jays’ ability to pick it apart has played no small role in their taking a 3-2 lead. But the starters are the best arms L.A. has at its disposal, and it should be able to deploy them at will with the season on the line.
“I think we’re a more talented team than we were last year,” Hernández said. “We found a way to do it last year. I thought we were in a bigger hole in the situation with the pitching staff last year, so, right guy at the right time on the mound for us in Game 6 in Yoshinobu. It’s time for us, for the offense, to show up.”
