World Series Game 7 preview: Blue Jays, Dodgers set for decisive showdown

Through six video games, the 2025 World Series has served up high-scoring offensive surges and lockdown defensive efforts, dramatic comebacks and late-game pressure, sprints and steals and even a marathon. 

So, it’s solely becoming {that a} showdown that’s seen all of it ought to go the space. And on Saturday night time in Toronto, one night time after the Dodgers’ 3-1 Game 6 victory to power Game 7 (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT), the Blue Jays and Dodgers will go head-to-head one remaining time with the World Series title on the road. 

After taking a 3-2 sequence lead with a commanding Game 5 win over the Dodgers in L.A., the stage was set for the Blue Jays to assert the World Series crown at house Friday night time in entrance of a frenzied crowd able to have fun a championship on Halloween. 

The Dodgers had different plans. L.A. held the Blue Jays’ bats (largely) in verify with one other heroic outing by starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who allowed only a single run and registered six strikeouts in a 3-1 victory for the guests. Despite a robust outing from Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman and the offence attending to L.A.’s bullpen sooner than anticipated, Toronto couldn’t muster up a lot in the best way of manufacturing to make the most of alternatives following Yamamoto’s exit from the matchup. 

A surge of hope with three outs remaining was squashed by a weird sequence of occasions on the backside of the ninth — a lodged ball that restricted Addison Barger’s near-homer to a double, adopted by an unlucky double play on Barger’s aggressive base-running gamble that didn’t repay for the house facet. 

The stakes don’t get any larger than this. There’s a championship on the road, and only one sport left to assert it on this David vs. Goliath showdown that has really gone the space.  

A win for the Blue Jays would mark the franchise’s first World Series title since 1993. This can also be the primary time Toronto is taking part in in a World Series Game 7.

L.A., in the meantime, is one win away from being topped back-to-back champions — a title that will make them the primary crew to win two in a row for the reason that New York Yankees gained their third straight trophy in 2000. 

Scherzer is not any stranger to high-pressure conditions. He was on the mound the final time a World Series went to a seventh and deciding matchup, propelling the Washington Nationals to victory over the Houston Astros in 2019. The 41-year-old has already gifted Blue Jays followers with a few of the greatest, most dramatic moments of this wild playoff run, so it’s solely becoming that he’s received the ball for this final showdown. With so many arms out there behind him — together with starters on quick relaxation — the query might be: How lengthy does supervisor John Schneider lean on the veteran?

An analogous query is being requested concerning the Dodgers’ use of Shohei Ohtani, who has but to be confirmed because the starter by the crew however is the probably and logical selection. Tyler Glasnow was initially lined as much as begin Game 7, however that modified when L.A. supervisor Dave Roberts turned to Glasnow to shut out Game 6. He didn’t pitch sufficient to rule out heavy utilization one night time later, however deploying Ohtani as starter is one of the best name as a result of it’s the solely name for the Dodgers in the event that they need to see the dual-threat sensation on the mound. MLB guidelines state that whereas Ohtani can stay within the sport because the membership’s designated hitter after beginning the sport as pitcher, he can not proceed to hit following his removing from the matchup as a reliever with out being slotted right into a defensive place comparable to outfielder. 

Schneider turned to veteran starter-turned-reliever Chris Bassitt for the ultimate three outs Friday night time, saving nearer Jeff Hoffman — now with two full days of relaxation — for Game 7. Who steps in earlier than Hoffman’s probably look is among the most fascinating touchpoints of this matchup — as a result of whether or not or not arms are rested, that is really an all-hands-on-deck affair for each side. That means including starters Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage to the bullpen crew. Should Scherzer present any indicators of slowing down, Schneider may deploy a real pitch-by-committee strategy. Of the 2, Bieber is the better-rested arm and may very well be leaned on for an extended reduction stint if essential. Even Game 6 starter Kevin Gausman, coming off a 93-pitch outing, may take the mound if want be.

The Dodgers hoped to lean on Roki Sasaki to finish Game 6, however needed to flip to some further arms to safe the win Friday night time. That makes Roberts’ sport plan fascinating. Will we see Tyler Glasnow in a reduction function once more? The starter was initially slated to open Game 7 earlier than leaping into motion Friday and recording his first profession save, and will play a big middle-innings function Saturday. Roberts informed reporters Friday night time that everybody apart from Yamamoto can be out there for Game 7.  

George Springer’s return to the lineup at DH was a welcomed sight, as was his third-inning single that was one in all his hardest-hit balls of the playoffs regardless of coping with a number of accidents and apparent discomfort. He’s not the one banged-up Blue Jay — Bo Bichette, too, is working via a lingering knee damage that’s seen him wholesome sufficient to hit however hampered in terms of base-running. The questions for Schneider will probably come deeper into the lineup and later within the sport when he navigates pinch-hit or pinch-run conditions. Does Davis Schneider get into the lineup? It’d be onerous to justify taking Nathan Lukes or Andres Gimenez out contemplating their defensive worth. Could Addison Barger be bumped up the lineup? He’s been sensational on the plate this post-season. 

When we’re speaking a couple of Game 7, it feels unimaginable to choose only a single storyline. This Blue Jays run has featured so many alternative names — stars and role-players alike — taking over the function of hero, however with the stakes this excessive and the highlight this shiny, it’s onerous to look away from the plain: Ohtani vs. Vlad Guerrero Jr. 

MVP versus MVP, with a World Series title and legacies on the road. 

Guerrero hit a statement-making homer off Ohtani in Game 4. With Ohtani probably on the mound once more, may we see one other? Ohtani’s final series-clinching efficiency — a Game 4 masterclass on the mound and on the plate — was historic. Guerrero’s whole post-season has seen him write his title into the historical past books a number of instances over. 

We’re about to witness the sport’s greatest on its largest stage, and despite the fact that nobody participant can win the title alone, these two MVPs are completely positioned to steer their respective groups right into a showdown for the ages.