Trey Yesavage has a brand new place in baseball historical past. The Toronto Blue Jays have a 3-2 World Series lead. The Los Angeles Dodgers have some soul-searching to do.
Behind a World Series rookie-record 12 strikeouts from the 22-year-old Yesavage, the Blue Jays cruised to a different win 6-1 over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the Fall Classic. They will return to Rogers Centre with two probabilities to clinch their first championship since 1993.
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Game 6 is scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. ET in Toronto.
The night belonged to Yesavage, who was drafted final season, started 2025 at Low-A Dunedin and did not make his MLB debut till mid-September. The Dodgers’ offense was struggling earlier than Wednesday, however Yesavage outright dominated them on Wednesday.
He struggled in Game 1 primarily resulting from a scarcity of really feel for his signature splitter, as an alternative leaning on a slider that may come and go. Both pitches labored to a monstrous diploma in Game 5, with the Dodgers whiffing 14 instances on 29 swings towards the slider and 7 instances on 10 swings towards the splitter. Overall, Yesavage labored an excellent 44% whiff fee.
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“Historic stuff,” Blue Jays supervisor John Schneider stated. “It’s one factor to be within the zone, and it is one other factor to be within the zone and get some swing-and-miss. Slider and break up had been electrical. I stated it earlier than the sport, it is a completely different pitcher when he has his stuff. Game 1 did not have a really feel for his break up, so type of blown away at what he did.
He struck out each Dodger in a revamped starting lineup at the very least as soon as and their 2-3-4 hitters two instances every, for good measure.
“It’s a loopy world,” Yesavage said after the game. “Hollywood could not have made it this good. So simply being part of this, I’m simply very blessed.”
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His lone mistake was an inside fastball that Kiké Hernandez punished for the Dodgers’ only run.
Blue Jays hit Blake Snell early, then Dodgers damage themselves
Toronto had all of the runs it wanted by the point Yesavage took the mound within the first. Both Yesavage and Blake Snell had been making an attempt to recuperate from tough Game 1 begins, and for Snell, that effort went south on the primary three pitches of the sport.
Blue Jays leadoff hitter Davis Schneider ambushed a fastball on Snell’s first pitch, then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed an inside mistake to make it 2-0 Toronto earlier than the primary out. That made the Jays the first team in World Series history to lead off with back-to-back home runs.
For his homer, Schneider credit score George Springer, who remains out with a side injury sustained in Game 3, for the choice to plan on a fastball.
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“Snell’s a extremely good pitcher. Last time I solely acquired just a few fastballs, so I used to be type of sitting fastball,” Schneider said. “George type of all the time preaches you all the time be prepared for the fastball first pitch main off the sport, and George has completed it for quite a few years, and I acquired to take some recommendation once I can get it.”
Snell actually settled in pretty well after the first inning, all but abandoning his fastball against a lineup that has spent this postseason demolishing them. It got rough for him as he reached the seventh inning, though, as he allowed two more baserunners and had to exit the game at 116 pitches.
Both runs ended up scoring, and the first really epitomized the night for the Dodgers. Addison Barger reached first on a grounder that reached the outfield, took second base on a Snell wild pitch, took third on another Snell wild pitch and then scored on an Edgardo Henríquez wild pitch.
It was the first time in World Series history that a team threw three wild pitches in a single inning.
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A little less than two days ago, the Dodgers survived an 18-inning marathon to take a 2-1 lead. However, that game also laid bare their offensive woes, with their failure to score against a Blue Jays bullpen that has struggled almost as much as theirs this postseason. That has continued in the next two games, and L.A. now needs a complete offensive revitalization if it wants to win MLB’s first back-to-back championships since 2000.
“It does not really feel nice,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “You clearly see these guys discovering methods to get hits, transfer the baseball ahead, and we’re not doing a great job of it … We have that capacity. We’ve acquired to make some changes.”
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Can the Dodgers nonetheless pull this out?
The Dodgers will attempt to do this towards Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in entrance of a hostile Toronto crowd on Friday in Game 6. On the brilliant facet, they may have on the mound the only starting pitcher who has performed well against this Toronto lineup, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Yamamoto made MLB historical past with a second straight full recreation in Game 2. He has simply been the Dodgers’ most constant pitcher all 12 months and has postseason bona fides going again to his profession in Japan. However, the Blue Jays lineup shall be getting a second have a look at him, which has to this point been a tricky time for beginning pitchers.
“He has actually great things,” Schneider said. “He’s a wise pitcher and hopefully we are able to get to him early on and make him throw some pitches, get to the bullpen and type of do what we have been doing all 12 months with beginning pitchers.”
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In theory, Yamamoto vs. Gausman is an advantage for the Dodgers based on what we’ve seen this year. And if they can push this series to seven games, no one’s entering Rogers Centre fully confident on Saturday. Still, with where their offense is, that’s a pretty humungous “If.”
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more from Game 5 of the 2025 World Series:
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Jack Baer
A minor subplot: That was Clayton Kershaw’s final game at Dodger Stadium. He can at least say he ended his career well when he was on the mound, getting that out in Game 3.
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Jack Baer
You can hear Blue Jays fans singing “O Canada” by the MLB Network set from across Dodger Stadium
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
The Dodgers hit .210 in their final three games at Dodger Stadium. They’re honestly lucky this series isn’t already over.
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
For a second straight day, the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers in all phases of the game. Trey Yesavage was unhittable to a historic degree. He had all the runs he needed just three pitches into the game, thanks to Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the Dodgers coughed up a few more runs down the line.
This series is going back to Toronto with the Jays up 3-2 and win away from their first World Series title since 1993.
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Jack Baer
Freddie Freeman strikes out. Two down.
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Jack Baer
Mooke Betts flies out to left. One down.
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Jack Baer
Will Smith leads off the bottom of the ninth with a full-count single off Jeff Hoffman.
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
Blake Treinen, a cyclone of misery for the Dodgers since the start of September, enters the game and throws a clean ninth inning to keep the deficit at five runs. Sure.
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Jack Baer
Ohtani grounds out to end the inning. Just one more inning to go as Blake Treinen enters the game.
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Jack Baer
Alex Call just worked a walk, something Andy Pages hadn’t done all postseason. Up comes Shohei Ohtani against Dominguez with two outs.
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Jack Baer
Pinch-hitter Myles Straw flies out to end the top of the eighth inning. With his team up five runs, Trey Yesavage’s night officially ends as Seranthony Dominguez takes over for the bottom of the eighth.
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
Anthony Banda stayed in and allowed a leadoff single to Ernie Clement, who took second on a wild pitch, then scored on a first-pitch single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
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