TORONTO — World Series Game 7. This is the stuff of backyard dreams.
The Blue Jays would rather be celebrating already, filling the streets of downtown Toronto with screaming fans and planning a parade, but they just keep running into Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
In Game 7, the potential of Shohei Ohtani looms both at the plate and on the mound, but the Blue Jays are one of the final two teams standing on the final day of the season for a reason. In games not pitched by the great Yamamoto, the Blue Jays have been the better team for more innings than the Dodgers, but now an entire season — all of these hours and days from the moment these teams arrived for Spring Training in February — comes down to Saturday night in Toronto.
“This is what you dream of, an opportunity to win the World Series in Game 7,” Bo Bichette said after their 3-1 loss in Game 6 on Friday at Rogers Centre. “I’m sure there will be a big moment and we’re ready for it.”
Sitting on the podium after the game, manager John Schneider set the right tone. Sure, he was 10 minutes removed from watching Addison Barger get doubled up at second base, a stunning play that ended a game the Blue Jays easily could have turned into this city’s first World Series title since 1993, but what’s the value in dwelling on that now?
If this were April or June, Schneider would have had some words for Barger to the media and some even sharper words in the clubhouse, but there’s one game left now. Game 7 will decide how we remember the 2025 Blue Jays for the rest of our lives, so Schneider wants his team to be the exact same group of men that flew north from Dunedin, Fla., and began this journey together seven months ago.
“We’re going to be ready to play tomorrow. Everyone’s going to be ready to play,” Schneider said confidently. “I expect them to be playing cards around 1 p.m. tomorrow and kind of shooting the [breeze] with everyone. It’s going to be fun here.”
Schneider was already talking about the Game 7 crowd like they’d forced the Game 7 themselves, not fallen into it. What other option do they have now?
It’s part exhaustion and part understanding that the past no longer has a hand in what will happen Saturday night, but there’s a sense of freedom from both sides now. There’s no Game 8 looming in the distance. There is no future beyond this to save up for, to plan for, to keep in the back of your mind.
This is why Ohtani reportedly will start in Game 7 and pitch until he can pitch no more. Every Dodgers pitcher outside of Yamamoto is expected to be available, but in Game 7 of the World Series, all bets are off and all hands are on deck.
“We’re going to leave it all out there. I don’t think that the pressure or the moment’s going to be too big for us,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We’ve got to go out there and win one baseball game. We’ve done that all year. Everyone’s bought in. So I don’t know how the game’s going to play out, but as far as kind of the moment, winning a game, I couldn’t be more excited to get to sleep and wake up to play a baseball game tomorrow.”
On the Blue Jays’ side, they’ll turn to 41-year-old Max Scherzer. The last time the World Series went to Game 7, Scherzer started that game for the Nationals, who went on to win. George Springer was on the other side with the Astros. Not a bad place to start from the experience standpoint.
Like the Dodgers, everyone should be available. Trey Yesavage could be the ultimate wild card here, if the Blue Jays are willing to risk it. Even Kevin Gausman, who fell once again to Yamamoto in Game 6, said he’ll be in the ice tub doing everything possible to be ready one day later.
“I expect them to come out swinging and use the energy in our building to our advantage,” said Gausman. “Today was incredible. It’s probably going to be even crazier tomorrow. There’s comfort in knowing that. The job is not done, but I think George said it best. If anyone told us in Spring Training we’d be playing Game 7 for the World Series, we would take that without even thinking. We feel really good about our team, and we just have to win one game.”
It’s just one game now. What happened in Game 6 or Game 3’s 18-inning marathon no longer matters. What happened in the middle of the summer is now long forgotten, a hazy memory that seems so small and insignificant once you taste the World Series.
The Blue Jays have won 104 baseball games this year. The Dodgers have won 105. All of this time, all of these moments, will be defined by just one game.
It will be the only game of the 2025 season that matters when we look back years from now, and it happens Saturday night in Toronto.
