LOS ANGELES — We have our first disputed call of the 2025 World Series, a strike signal that created a mess on the bases for the Blue Jays.
Daulton Varsho was in a 3-1 count at the plate in the top of the second inning, with Bo Bichette standing at first, when Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow delivered a pitch that looked high and out of the zone for ball four, so Varsho turned, hesitated and tossed his bat toward the Blue Jays’ dugout.
Not so fast. Home-plate umpire Mark Wegner signaled strike two just as Varsho’s bat left his hand, and Bichette had already followed Varsho’s lead, bouncing off first base thinking Varsho had drawn a walk. After a quick throw to first base by Glasnow, Bichette was called out. Varsho eventually drew a walk, but the Blue Jays ended up stranding runners on the corners without scoring in an inning in which they sandwiched a walk between two singles.
“I think [Bichette] thought it was a ball,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told FOX during an in-game interview. “I think a runner’s assumption, obviously, is the umpire is telling Varsh that it was a ball — for him to throw his bat like that. So it’s a weird play. You don’t want that to come back to bite you, but you wanna kind of let the players decide what’s going on.”
This was a tough blow to the Blue Jays, who could have plated a run and pushed Glasnow’s pitch count even higher than the 26 pitches they forced through two innings. If this juggernaut Dodgers team has any weakness, it’s their bullpen, so the Blue Jays’ No. 1 goal this Series has been to chase the starters.
“Mark’s a great umpire, been doing it a long time,” Schneider said. “Very delayed call, pretty deliberate. He just didn’t say anything, so Varsh assumed it was a ball and Bo assumed. I just asked him, in this environment, can he be a little bit quicker or give a little bit of clarity so everyone kind of knows what’s going on.”
This moment also snuffed out the early momentum from Bichette, who laced a 3-1 sinker for a single straight back up the middle, an encouraging sign as the star shortstop — who is playing second base in the Fall Classic — tries to play through a left knee sprain that still isn’t 100%.
