The Month That Was in Baseball: October 2025

Wednesday, October 1

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the first team to advance from the Wild Card Series, doubling up and eliminating the #6-seeded Cincinnati Reds with an 8-4 Game Two victory at Los Angeles. The main driving force for the Dodgers is Mookie Betts, whose four hits include three doubles—making him the second player in franchise history, after Jim Gilliam in the 1953 World Series, with a hat trick of doubles in a postseason game. On the mound, Yoshinobu Yamamato allows a pair of unearned runs with nine strikeouts over 6.2 innings and a season-high 117 pitches. 

The three other first-round series all get evened up, setting up winner-take-all contests. 

The New York Yankees bounce back to edge the visiting Boston Red Sox, 4-3, on Austin Wells’ two-out slicing liner down the right-field line that brings home Jazz Chisholm Jr. all the way from first base to break a 3-3 tie. The Yankees had earlier taken a 2-0 lead on a first-inning, two-run blast from left-handed slugger Ben Rice, who was shut out of the lineup in Game One as Boston pitched southpaws the whole way. The Red Sox blow a bases-loaded opportunity in the seventh—scoring none—and ground into three double plays. 

In Cleveland, the Guardians even up their series against AL Central rival Detroit with a 6-1 victory. A 1-1 tie is broken up in the eighth when the Guardians plate five runs—the first notched on Bryan Rocchio’s solo home run, then capped with a three-run shot from Bo Naylor. The Tigers have plentiful opportunities to score, but end up leaving 15 men on base—nine of those in scoring position. It’s the most baserunners left stranded in a postseason game when scoring one or none runs. 

Making his major league debut in center field for the Guardians is 2022 first-round pick Chase DeLauter, whose last game was a minor league contest in July. DeLauter drops the first fly ball hit to him in the first inning, fighting the afternoon sun, but it doesn’t lead to a run; he’ll make up for the gaffe in the fourth when he throws out Dillon Dingler at third base, a play initially ruled safe before video review overturns the call. At the plate, DeLauter goes 0-for-2 with a walk. 

The San Diego Padres force a third game at Chicago with a 3-0 blanking of the Cubs. The Padres’ bullpen, so awesome through the season, comes shining through once again—allowing just one hit over the final 5.1 innings after Dylan Cease is given an early hook. Standing out among the Padres’ relief corps is Mason Miller, who strikes out five straight Cubs—eight straight over two games, tying Josh Hader’s 2022 postseason mark—and throws his fastest pitch at an eye-popping 104.5 MPH. 

Atlanta manager Brian Snitker announces that he’s stepping down, moving into the Braves’ front office as an advisor, The 69-year-old Snitker, who has spent a whopping 49 years within the Braves’ organization, managed Atlanta for the past 10 years, winning 811 games—third in franchise history behind Hall of Famers Bobby Cox and the 1890s’ Frank Selee. He earned six first-place finishes in the NL East, and triumph at the 2021 World Series over Houston. 

Thursday, October 2

Cam Schlittler grandly proclaims his presence on the big stage, becoming the first rookie to throw eight shutout innings with no walks and 12 or more strikeouts in a postseason game, lifting the Yankees to a 4-0 win over the visiting Red Sox and advancing to the ALDS against Toronto. The dominance of Schlittler, who ironically grew up a big Red Sox fan, is evident from the start; in the first inning, he throws six pitches over 100 MPH—one more than all Yankee pitchers combined over 97 previous postseason games since velocities began being officially tracked in 2008. All four Yankee runs score in the fourth off Boston starter Connelly Early—like Schlittler, a rookie who impressed after being brought up from the minors. 

The ABS system is coming a year too late for Padres. In. the winner-take-all Game Three at Chicago, the Padres enter the ninth inning down 3-0 to the Cubs, but waste no time with a desperate rally. Jackson Merrill hits a leadoff home run; the next batter, Xander Bogaerts, takes a full-count pitch low and away—but it’s called strike three by home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn. The consequence is compounded as Cubs reliver Brad Keller hits the next two batters—which would have loaded the bases with no one out had Reyburn correctly called ball four. Andrew Kittredge comes in to save the day—and the series—by retiring the final two batters and securing a 3-1 victory for the Cubs. A year from now, Bogaerts could be tapping his helmet to signal a review of the call, which will be allowed—but for now, he’ll have to live with Reyburn’s errant interpretation. And so will the Padres; despite another exemplary effort from their bullpen—after a shaky Yu Darvish allows two runs in just an inning-plus of work—the Padres repeatedly fail to cross the plate, as sound Cubs pitching and excellent defense aid the triumph. 

As the umpires leave the field through the visiting dugout at Wrigley Field, Bogaerts and teammate Jose Iglesias give them an angry earful. The outburst will earn Iglesias a one-game suspension from MLB, while Bogaerts is fined. 

The Tigers get the last laugh on the Guardians, eliminating Cleveland in their decisive rubber match with a 6-3 victory. A 1-1 tie is broken up in the sixth on a solo homer from the Tigers’ Dillon Dingler; an inning later, Detroit will break it open with four runs, all scored in quick succession on three straight singles. The Tigers next take on Seattle in the ALDS. 

Friday, October 3

The Texas Rangers hire from within, naming former Miami manager Skip Schumaker to replace Bruce Bochy to lead the club. The 45-year-old Schumaker piloted the Marlins for two seasons—the first taking the Marlins to an overachieving 84-78 record that earned him NL Manager of the Year honors, the second a 100-loss season. With the Rangers this past season, Schumaker was a senior advisor in the Texas front office. 

Saturday, October 4

Game One of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Phillies at Philadelphia features the best and worst of Los Angeles outfielder Teoscar Hernandez. His apparent nonchalance in not cutting off a J.T. Realmuto second-inning gapper that rolls to the wall—winding up as a two-run triple—is compounded when Realmuto next scores on a sacrifice fly, giving the Phillies a 3-0 off the Dodgers and starter Shohei Ohtani. But Hernandez will make big-time amends in the seventh, blasting a three-run homer to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead that will hold to the end. Hernandez’s shot makes Ohtani—who strikes out four times at the plate in four at-bats, with a late walk—a winner on the mound, allowing just the three runs on three hits over six innings with nine strikeouts. 

The Milwaukee Brewers quickly make their regular season dominance loud and clear in the first game of their NLDS against the visiting Cubs, scoring all nine of their runs and 10 of their 13 hits over the first two innings, coasting from there to a 9-3 victory in the first postseason meeting ever between the two NL Central rivals. Cubs manager (and former Brewers pilot) Craig Counsell takes a risk by starting Matthew Boyd on three days’ rest, and the move backfires as Boyd lasts only two-thirds of the first inning, allowing all six runs (with only two earned thanks to a Nico Hoerner error). Jackson Chourio highlights the Brewers’ early offensive explosion, becoming the first player in postseason history with three hits within the first two innings. 

Alas for the Brewers, Chourio departs with a tight right hamstring after the third hit. After the game, Chourio says he feels “pretty good,” but Brewers manager Pat Murphy warns that the injury could be “devastating.” An MRI will say otherwise, but while Chourio will be available going forward, he’ll be far from 100%. 

The Cubs lose despite out-homering the Brewers, 3-0. 

The postseason’s first extra-inning game, with no gratuitous gift runners in play, leads to the Tigers taking a 3-2, 11-inning victory over the Mariners at Seattle in ALDS Game One. Detroit plates its game-winning run the old-fashioned way—by earning it—as Spencer Torkelson draws a leadoff walk, reaches second on a wild pitch, then scores on Zach McKinstry’s single. Seattle hitting stars Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez combine for all six hits for the Mariners, with Rodriguez knocking in both of their runs—one on a solo homer in the fourth. But the 0-for-28 put up by the rest of the Mariners’ lineup keeps the Tigers in the game. 

The Toronto Blue Jays easily take the first game of their ALDS against the visiting Yankees with a 10-1 rout. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sets the pace in with a first-inning solo homer—his first in over a month; Alejandro Kirk punches out two solo homers in the second and eighth. The game stays tight through the first seven innings, before the Blue Jays floor it with four runs in each of the final two frames. 

Luke Weaver, a 2024 playoff standout who saved four games for the Yankees in their drive to the AL pennant, has faced six batters so far in the 2025 postseason—and has yet to retire any of them, allowing four hits and two walks. Five of them have scored. Weaver will retire the one batter he’ll face for the rest of the series. 

Sunday, October 5

The Blue Jays have it all going for them as they deliver another rout upon the Yankees at Toronto, winning ALDS Game Two, 13-7, and putting New York in the unenviable position of having to win three straight games in order to win the series. Standing out in a record-setting way for the Jays is 22-year-old Trey Yesavage, making just his fourth major league start on the mound; he throws 5.1 no-hit innings, striking out a Toronto postseason-record 11 Yankees—including six straight, tying a major league postseason mark. Offensively, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launches his second home run in as many days, this one a grand slam that’s part of a six-run explosion in the fourth. Four other homers are hit by the Jays, including two from Daulton Varsho—part of his four-hit day that also includes two doubles. The Blue Jays build up a 12-0 lead before the Yankees make things a tad interesting late, notching their seven runs over the last four innings. 

Toronto’s 23 total runs over the ALDS’ first two games are the most ever accumulated over the first two contests of any postseason series; they’re all also unanswered, setting another all-time playoff mark. 

The Mariners even up their ALDS, overcoming the Tigers and ace Tarik Skubal with a tie-breaking rally in the eighth to give them a 3-2 victory. Skubal is terrific for seven innings, but discovers his Kryptonite in Jorge Polanco, whose two solo homers give Seattle a 2-0 lead. An inning after Skubal’s departure, the Tigers even up the score on Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double—but the Mariners answer a half-inning later, as back-to-back doubles from Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez are all they need to retake the lead for good. 

Monday, October 6

The Dodgers make it two straight wins at Philadelphia, as Blake Snell tames the Phillies—allowing one hit with nine strikeouts through six shutout innings in a 4-3 win. Through those first six innings, Snell is matched by Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo, who at one point retires 17 Dodgers in a row. But Luzardo folds in the seventh, allowing base hits to the first two Los Angeles hitters; the Phillies turn to the bullpen, but neither Ollie Kerkering nor Matt Strahm can keep a lid on the Dodgers’ rally as four runs cross the plate before inning’s end. Ahead 4-1 in the ninth, the Dodgers’ bullpen—their Achilles’ heel of late—generates big-time hope for the Phillies as Nick Castellanos’ two-run double trims the lead to one with nobody out. But Castellanos is thrown out at third on a Bryson Stott sac bunt attempt, neutering the Phillies’ threat as they ultimately leave the tying run at second. With a 2-0 NLDS lead, the Dodgers now have three games to win one and move on to the NLCS. 

The Brewers are also one victory away from clinching their NLDS against the Cubs. A three-run homer in the first from Seiya Sukuzi gives Chicago early hope and a 3-0 first-inning lead at Milwaukee, but the Brewers quickly respond with three homers: A three-run shot from Andrew Vaughn in the bottom of the first, a tie-breaking solo blast from William Contreras in the third, and then another three-run homer in the fourth from Jackson Chourio—whose injury hamstring from Game One has, for the moment, apparently healed.

The 7-3 lead holds to the end, as the Brewers’ bullpen limits the Cubs to just one hit after starter Aaron Ashby’s departure with two outs in the second. Rookie Jason Misiorowski, the second of six Milwaukee relievers, stands out not just by height (6’7”) but performance; over three shutout innings, Misiorowski throws 31 of his 57 pitches over 100 MPH—with two topping out over 104, matching the entire total of such deliveries in postseason play since velocities officially began being tracked in 2008. 

Tuesday, October 7

Through the middle of the third inning at New York, it looks like the Blue Jays are going to sail to a three-game ALDS sweep against the Yankees, piling up a 6-1 lead highlighted by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s third home run in as many games. But there’s plenty of time left for the Yankees—and they take sweet advantage of it. New York scores two runs in the third, three in the fourth—all scoring on Aaron Judge’s drive that goes doink off the left-field foul pole—and three more over the next two frames to take a 9-6 lead that will serve as the final score, keeping the Yankees alive in the series. Key for the Yankees is a bullpen that rescues starter Carlos Rodon (who’s charged with all six Blue Jays runs) and combines to throw 6.2 shutout innings after his departure. 

The five-run comeback is the second largest in Yankees postseason history—surpassed only by their famed six-run rebound against the Braves in 1996 World Series Game Three. 

Like the Jays at New York, the Mariners come out slugging at Detroit—taking a 4-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning. Unlike the Jays, Seattle holds on—breezing to an 8-4 win over the Tigers to take a crucial 2-1 game lead in the best-of-five series. Home runs by Eugenio Suarez, J.P. Crawford and Cal Raleigh (belting his first postseason homer) power the Mariners; on the mound, Logan Gilbert allows a run on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over six innings. 

The game is held up nearly three hours by rain, putting a damper on Detroit fans doing their best to stick it out; once the game starts and the Mariners begin to pile up the runs, Comerica Park gets awfully empty fast. 

Wednesday, October 8

The Blue Jays are the first team to punch a ticket to the third-round Championship Series, ousting the Yankees in ALDS Game Four at New York, 5-2. It will be Toronto’s first appearance in the ALCS since 2016; meanwhile, the Yankees’ drought without a world title reaches 16 seasons, tied for the second longest in franchise history after the team’s first 20 years (1903-22) in New York. In securing the clincher, the Blue Jays go bullpen from start to finish, using eight relievers who tame the Yankees’ bats. Toronto breaks away from a tight game with three late runs; taking the loss for the Yankees is rookie Cam Schlittler, who does his best to contain the Jays but gives up four runs (two earned) over 6.1 innings. 

Asked if he expects to return to the dugout as the Yankees manager in 2026, Aaron Boone replies: “I’m under contract.” 

The three other teams trailing in their second-round series all avoid elimination. 

The Tigers stay alive, scoring nine unanswered runs after the visiting Mariners build up an 3-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Batting ninth, Javier Baez leads the comeback charge for Detroit, knocking in four runs—two on a sixth-inning home run—as the Tigers roll to a 9-3 victory. 

The Cubs keep from being swept by the Brewers, once again bursting out to an early lead but, this time, holding it through to the finish as they take NLDS Game Three at Chicago, 4-3. Milwaukee starter Quinn Priester loses his second straight game after going 12-0 over his previous 17 starts; in this case, he doesn’t even survive the first inning, charged with all four Chicago runs. The 53 pitches thrown by Priester and reliever Nick Mears in the first are the most thrown in the initial frame of a postseason game since pitch tracking became official in 1988. 

Eight of the Cubs’ 10 runs this series have been scored in the first inning. 

At Los Angeles, the Phillies rebound against the Dodgers, staying alive in their NLDS with an 8-2 Game Three victory. Kyle Schwarber belts two home runs, the second late in the game against Clayton Kershaw—making his first appearance this postseason. Overall, the soon-to-retire Kershaw endures an awful relief outing in which he allows five runs (four earned) on six hits, three walks and no strikeouts over two innings. It raises the future Hall of Famer’s career postseason ERA to 4.63—nearly double his lifetime 2.53 regular season figure. The win goes to Ranger Suarez, who relievers starter Aaron Nola after two innings, allows a home run to the first batter he faces (Tommy Edman), then doesn’t allow another run through five innings of work. 

The two runs scored by the Dodgers end a streak of 13 straight playoff games with at least four notched—tying the 1970-71 Orioles for the longest such streak in MLB postseason history. 

Thursday, October 9

The Dodgers are one step closer to their second straight NL pennant, ousting the Phillies at Los Angeles in 11 innings, 2-1. The deciding run comes courtesy of a glaringly bad decision from Philadelphia reliever Ollie Kerkering. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kerkering drops a grounder hit back to him from Andy Pages; in a panic, he throws wildly past home where Hyeseong Kim is already crossing the plate—all while he had much more time to throw out Pages at first and send the game to the 12th. Early on, Tyler Glasnow barely gets the better of the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez, throwing six shutout innings to Sanchez’s 6.1 frames (allowing one Dodger run). But it’s Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese rookie, who truly stifles the Phillies in the late going and keeps them from pulling away with a series-tying victory as he racks up three perfect innings of relief. 

This will be the seventh time in the last 10 years that the Dodgers have reached the NLCS. 

The Cubs force a winner-take-all Game Five against the Brewers, scoring early and often once again while five pitchers combine to shut down the Brewers at Chicago on three hits, 6-0. For a postseason-record fourth straight game, the Cubs belt a home run in the first inning as Ian Happ’s three-run shot gives Chicago the early lead. (Happ is hitless in his other three at-bats—flying out somewhere between the edge of the warning track and the outfield wall in each.) 

The baseball world says goodbye to former Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell, who succumbs to cancer at the age of 62. A two-time All-Star, Greenwell played all 12 of his seasons in Boston, batting a career .303 with 1,400 hits. His best season came in 1988 when he set personal bests in home runs (22) and RBIs (119), finishing second in the AL MVP vote behind the A’s Jose Canseco; after Canseco later admitted to juicing during that season, Greenwell argued that the he should be recrowned as the true MVP. Greenwell’s most eye-opening game came in 1996, when he knocked in all nine Boston runs in a 9-8, 10-inning win at Seattle. No other player, before or since, has knocked in more runs in a game without his teammates contributing an additional ribbie. 

Friday, October 10

In the longest winner-take-all postseason game by innings, the Mariners advance to their fourth LCS—and first since 2001—defeating the Tigers at Seattle in 15 innings, 3-2. Jorge Polanco’s line single to right with one out and the bases loaded brings home the winning run for the Mariners off Tommy Kahnle, the Tigers’ eighth pitcher of the night. The Mariners survive Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who through six innings allows a run on just two hits with 13 strikeouts—seven of those consecutively to set a postseason record—and Kerry Carpenter, who reaches base six times, including a two-run homer in the sixth that accounts for both Detroit runs. With the assailed gift runner not in play per postseason policy, both teams dig deep into their bullpens—and pitching rotations—as the game carries on well past the ninth. Four of the 13 relievers used are starting pitchers; the Mariners’ Luis Castillo retires the final four Detroit batters to earn the win. 

The Mariners will face the Blue Jays at Toronto in ALCS Game One on Sunday, a matchup of the American League’s two expansion teams from 1977. 

To little surprise, Cody Bellinger is opting out of his three-year contract with the Yankees after just one season. After opting out with the Cubs last year, the 30-year-old outfielder joined New York and batted .272 with 29 homers and 98 RBIs—the latter two figures his highest totals since winning the 2019 NL MVP with the Dodgers. Bellinger declines payment of $52.5 million from the Yankees over the next two seasons to join the free agent market. 

Saturday, October 11

Powered by a trio of solo home runs, the Milwaukee Brewers defeat the visiting Chicago Cubs in the winner-take-all NLDS Game Five, 3-1, advancing to the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers—who the Brewers lost to in seven games during their last NLCS in 2018. William Contreras launches the Brewers’ first homer in the bottom of the first to take the early lead; Andrew Vaughn breaks a 1-1 tie in the fourth with another long ball, followed by a seventh-inning shot from Brice Turang to provide insurance. Both teams go full bullpen in seeking the clinching victory. The Brewers start with their closer, Trevor Megill, who pitches a scoreless first—keeping the Cubs from scoring in the initial frame for the first time all series. Megill segues to rookie flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, who gets credit for the victory as he allows a run over the next four innings. 

Taking the loss for the Cubs is Colin Rea, who signed with Chicago after two seasons…with the Brewers. 

Sunday, October 12

The ALCS gets started in Toronto, and it looks like the Seattle Mariners are immediately in big trouble. The very first pitch thrown by Mariners starter Bryce Miller—pitching on three days’ rest—is rocketed well over the right-field wall by the Blue Jays’ George Springer. Next, Miller walks Nathan Lukes on 12 pitches. After that, the Blue Jays will collect just one hit the rest of the night. Trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Cal Raleigh belts his second postseason homer (and 62nd of the year) off Toronto starter Kevin Gausman, who to that point was sailing. After Gausman next walks Julio Rodriguez, he’s removed for Brendon Little—who serves up an RBI single to Jorge Polanco, giving Seattle the lead. In the eighth, Polanco will add an insurance RBI on another run-scoring single, and the Mariners will hold the 3-1 lead to the finish. 

Raleigh’s homer is his ninth in 14 career games at Toronto. 

Monday, October 13

The Mariners score seven unanswered runs after the second inning to pull away with a 10-3 ALCS Game Two victory at Toronto, giving them their first-ever two-game lead in a postseason series. They now have three games back at Seattle to win two—and their first-ever pennant. Julio Rodriguez starts the scoring with a three-run homer in the first, bringing home two baserunners who were walked by Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage to open the game. The Jays bounce back with two in the first and one in the second to tie, and it remains that way until Jorge Polanco vaults the Mariners back in front in the sixth on another three-run homer. 

It’s the third straight game in which Polanco has brought home the eventual game-winning run. 

Of the 217 pitches taken by hitters, 24 of them are incorrectly called as balls or strikes by veteran umpire Doug Eddings—who for some reason is working a postseason game. That’s a poor accuracy rate of 89%. 

Blake Snell dominates, and the Dodgers’ bullpen nearly flubs it again—but Los Angeles escapes with a 2-1 victory at Milwaukee in NLCS Game One. Over eight shutout innings, Snell faces the minimum 24 batters—allowing just one baserunner (on a Caleb Durbin single in the third) who’s later erased on a stolen base attempt. Snell departs after throwing 103 pitches with 10 strikeouts. With Snell out in the ninth, the Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki can’t extend his early postseason dominance, allowing a run on a hit and two walks while getting just one batter out. Blake Treinen relieves and walks his first batter (Williams Contreras) before striking out Brice Turang on a high fastball to wrap up the win. Offensively, the Dodgers are propelled by Freddie Freeman, who breaks a scoreless deadlock in the sixth with a towering homer to right field; it’s his 10th go-ahead playoff homer, tying Jose Altuve for the most in postseason history. 

In the fourth, the Dodgers nearly break the ice in a big way—but Max Muncy’s bid for a one-out grand slam turns into one of the longest double plays ever grounded into as his 410-plus-foot drive to left of center is gloved, deflected off the wall and re-gloved by Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick. Back in the infield, confusion reigns as Teoscar Hernandez—thinking Frelick had made the catch—tags and comes home, only to be out on a force; Will Smith, also believing the ball had been caught and holding at second, is forced at third. 

Snell improves his postseason record to 7-3 in 15 appearances (13 starts) with a 2.58 ERA. 

In a surprising announcement, Mike Shildt announces he is stepping down as the Padres’ manager, stating that “the grind of the baseball season has taken a severe toll on me mentally, physically and emotionally.” The 57-year-old Shildt took the Padres to the playoffs in his two years leading the team; before that, he piloted St. Louis for three-plus seasons, winning 2019 NL Manager of the Year honors, before being unceremoniously dumped by the Cardinals in what was described as a difference of opinion between he and the front office. 

Sandy Alomar, second baseman of 15 seasons and the father of Sandy Alomar Jr. and Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, passes away at the age of 81. The Puerto Rico native collected 1,189 hits, with only 13 of them home runs, playing for six different teams. He was at his most productive in a six-year tenure with the California Angels, earning All-Star honors in 1970. After his playing days, Alomar served as a coach with four different teams from 1986-2009, returning again in 2024 as Cleveland’s first-base coach at the age of 80. 

Tuesday, October 14

Look out, everyone—the Dodgers’ high-priced rotation, which struggled to see a return on investment during the regular season, appears to be peaking at just the right moment. A night after Blake Snell’s eight shutout innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws the first complete game during a postseason since Justin Verlander in 2017, allowing one run—a first-pitch homer to Jackson Chourio in the first—on three hits and a walk over 111 pitches as the Dodgers cruise to a 5-1 win at Milwaukee. Like the Mariners in the ALCS, the Dodgers now have three games to win two and the pennant back in their home park. After the Chourio homer, the Dodgers rebound with two runs in the second, the latter via a solo homer from Teoscar Hernandez, his fourth of the postseason. Max Muncy later cranks out his own solo shot, ending the night for top Milwaukee pitcher Freddy Peralta. The Dodgers nick away for two more late runs, but Yamamoto gives the Brewers no chance to mount any kind of comeback. 

Yamamoto is only the second pitcher to give up a first-pitch homer in a postseason game, then allow no more runs the rest of the way over nine innings. The first was the New York Giants’ Johnny Antonelli in Game Two of the 1954 World Series. 

Alex Bregman looks to be one-and-done with the Red Sox, saying he will opt out of his three-year contract after just one season in Boston—skipping out on $83.3 million that remains on the deal. The 31-year-old third baseman had a good, but not particularly stellar, 2025 season; in 114 games, he batted .273 with 18 homers and 62 RBIs. A midseason quad injury kept him out of action from late May through early July. 

Wednesday, October 15

The Blue Jays serve notice to the Mariners, in thundering fashion, that they’re still in it to win it in the ALCS. At Seattle for Game Three, Toronto rebounds from a 2-0 hole created by a Julio Rodriguez homer in the first, scoring 12 unanswered runs over a four-inning span on their way to a 13-4 rout of the Mariners. After serving up the Rodriguez homer, Toronto starter Shane Bieber settles in and doesn’t allow a run over the next five innings, allowing four total hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. Hitless in the first two games of the series, the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reawakens and enjoys a four-hit night, including his fourth homer in seven games this postseason. Overall, the Jays smack five homers, the second time they’ve accomplished that this postseason; they never hit more than four in 67 previous playoff games coming into the year. With the Mariners adding three round-trippers themselves, the total of eight on the night ties an all-time postseason game record. 

Thursday, October 16

The Brewers are beaten, bloodied and against the ropes as the opposing Dodgers take a three-games-to-none lead in the NLCS with a 3-1 victory at Los Angeles. Pitching once again is key for the Dodgers, as Tyler Glasnow (5.2 innings) and four relievers limit the Brewers to just four hits. The Dodgers break a 1-1 tie in the sixth with a two-run rally, finally breaking through against Brewers rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski—who had taken over for opener Aaron Ashby with one out in the first and the Dodgers already up, 1-0. In five innings, Misiorowski strikes out nine, a postseason record for a rookie doing relief. Whatever slim chances that the Brewers have of bouncing back are further handicapped as outfielder Jackson Chourio hops on one leg into the dugout in the middle of his seventh-inning at-bat, re-aggravating his hamstring. However, Chourio says after the game that he cramped up and should be ready for Game Four. 

In the series’ first three games, Milwaukee batters have just nine hits in 89 at-bats for a .101 average. 

Max Scherzer is unleashed onto the ALCS stage, and no one’s going to stop him. Not the Mariners, who can only manage two runs on three hits against him through 5.2 innings. And not Toronto manager John Schneider, who with two outs in the fifth attempts to remove Scherzer—only to be barked at and backed off by the 41-year-old veteran, who gets three more outs and credit for the 8-2 win before finally acquiescing to a departure. Seattle starter Luis Castillo has no such luck talking manager Dan Wilson into the staying in. Castillo is removed after allowing five of six Toronto batters to reach in the third—including a two-run homer from Andres Gimenez, his second in as many nights—and a subtle but seemingly intense exchange between Castillo and Wilson. With Castillo out, Gabe Speier, his replacement, next walks in a third run. From there, the Blue Jays build up their lead and never look back to even the series at 2-2, with all games thus far won by the road team. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. adds insurance with his fifth homer of the postseason, breaking a team record held by Jose Bautista in 2015. 

The 48 pitches thrown by Castillo are a career low. 

In his previous six starts dating back to late August, Scherzer was 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA. 

This is the first time in 230 games that the top four batters in the Seattle lineup (which in this game consists of Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and Jorge Polanco) each fail to get a hit. 

The offseason is barely a week old for the Yankees, and already the injuries are piling up for the start of the 2026 season. Carlos Rodon, who pitched his way to an 18-9 record this past year, underwent surgery to clean up his throwing elbow and is likely to miss Opening Day. Meanwhile, shortstop Anthony Volpe is recovering from surgery on his shoulder and is also a question mark for the start of next season. Finally, there was talk that über-slugger Aaron Judge would also go under the knife for a bothersome elbow that diminished his throwing velocity (but not his bat speed), but it’s confirmed that he will focus instead on offseason rehab. 

Friday, October 17

The Dodgers cap a thoroughly dominant NLCS sweep of the Brewers with what some are calling the greatest-ever individual performance—and although that’s open to debate, it’s certainly hard to argue against Shohei Ohtani’s three home runs and six scoreless innings of pitching with 10 strikeouts. Ohtani, who has largely struggled at the plate during the postseason, takes the mound and strikes out the side in the first after a leadoff walk—then opens the bottom of the frame against Milwaukee starter Jose Quintana with a 446-foot strike, a year to the day that he similarly homered from the leadoff spot against the same pitcher in the 2024 NLCS against the New York Mets. After Ohtani circles the bases, the Dodgers will rally for two more runs for a quick 3-0 lead; in the fourth, Ohtani will crush his second homer—a 469-foot blast clearing the right-field bleachers and bouncing through Dodger Stadium’s pavilion concourse—then finish his night with a 427-foot opposite field drive in the seventh, giving the Dodgers a 5-1 lead that will hold to the end. 

The Dodgers are the first defending champion to repeat as pennant winners since the 2009 Phillies—who lost in their bid for back-to-back world titles against the Yankees. 

Eleven other players have hit three homers in a postseason game—including two by Dodgers players (Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor) over the past eight years—but none of those hitters also pitched, let alone shut down their opponents. Ohtani is the first pitcher to belt a leadoff homer in a game—whether during the regular season or playoffs—and the first hurler to hit three in a game since Jim Tobin in 1942. 

There have been six leadoff homers this postseason—breaking the record previously set in 2007. 

One big question emerging from the NLCS postscript is: What happened to the Brewers? The team with the majors’ best record, with an energetic offense, simply laid down and died against the Dodgers. Sensational Los Angeles pitching obviously had much to do with it, but the Brewers will certainly spend much of the coming offseason scratching their heads over a scant four runs and .118 batting average in four losses to the Dodgers. 

The Dodgers now await their World Series opponent, the advantage of which currently belongs to the Mariners—who take a crucial Game Five at Seattle over Toronto, 6-2. Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, the Mariners get a game-tying homer from Cal Raleigh; two walks and a hit batter later, up steps Eugenio Suarez—who dumps an opposite-field grand slam, his second homer of the game, to break the Mariners into the clear. The walks and hit batters—a combined seven in all—is just part of what makes the Blue Jays their own worst enemy. They hit into two double plays, including an inning-ending twin killing in the fourth, after the Jays had loaded the bases with nobody out. 

The game is not all the Blue Jays lose. George Springer, whose bat has sprung back to life this season, is drilled in the right kneecap by the Mariners’ Bryan Woo (making his first appearance in a month), forcing him to leave the game. X-rays come back negative, which is positive news for Springer—though his status for Game Six and beyond is not clear over the next 24 hours. Regardless, Toronto manager John Schneider rips Seattle fans for cheering the knockdown—and booing Springer after he gets up in pain. While many on social media castigate Mariners fans for their classless reaction, those with longer memories seek to tie the response to Springer’s presence with the 2017 Astros, who cheated their way to a world title. 

Sunday, October 19

The Blue Jays force a seventh game in the ALCS, taking a 6-2 victory over the Mariners at Toronto behind early offense—and lousy luck for Seattle. Rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage strikes out seven over 5.2 innings, but the Mariners keep peppering him with baserunners throughout—seven alone between the third and fifth innings. Yet the Mariners cannot plate in either of those frames, as they hit into inning-ending double plays—twice with the bases loaded—each time. Seattle finally breaks through with two runs in the sixth to end Yesavage’s night, but mount no threats over the final three innings. Offensively, the Jays gets home runs from Addison Barger and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.—his sixth of the postseason. 

Jesus Montero, a promising catcher in the early 2010s whose career quickly disintegrated under the weight of scandal and scuffle, has died in his native Venezuela at the age of 35 from injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident two weeks earlier. Signed by the Yankees at age 16 and brought up to the parent club five years later at the end of the 2011 season, Montero had a sparkling audition in which he batted .328 with four home runs and 12 RBIs over 61 at-bats. But he was dealt away during the following winter to Seattle as part of a four-player deal; in his one full-time season with the Mariners (2012), he batted .260 and punched out 15 homers. Controversy began following Montero over the next couple of years. In 2013 he was tied to the Biogenesis scandal—later fessing up and stating he “made a big, bad mistake.” He showed up at Mariners camp 40 pounds overweight the following spring, barely played and, while on a rehab assignment at the Triple-A level, got into a heated altercation with a Mariners scout who dared to send him an ice cream sandwich into the dugout as a sarcastic nod to his weight issues. After 2016, Montero bounced around for five years between Triple-A, Mexico and the Venezuelan Winter League, unable to hook back up at the major league level. 

Monday, October 20

The Blue Jays are heading to the World Series for the first time in 32 years, defeating the Mariners—who remain the lone MLB team to have never won a pennant—by a 4-3 count in both ALCS wins, and runs in the deciding game. There’s a sense of payback for the Jays and their fans as George Springer—still slightly hobbled after getting hit in the kneecap three days earlier by Seattle pitcher Bryan Woo, leading to cheers from Mariners fans—provides the series-turning moment with one out in the seventh with a three-run homer, catapulting Toronto from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 lead. Ironically, Springer’s jolt comes off Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo, who had just relieved Woo. The Mariners fail to respond to the Springer homer, going down in order over each of the final two innings. Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman locks down the Jays’ third AL pennant by striking out the side in the ninth. 

The Blue Jays are the first team to win a seven-game series despite losing the first two games at home since the Yankees against Atlanta in the 1996 World Series. 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wins ALCS MVP honors with 10 hits—three doubles and three homers—in 26 at-bats. If the Jays go on to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series, Guerrero says he’ll give his ring to his Hall-of-Fame father—who came closest to being part of a championship team as a member of the 2010 Texas Rangers. 

For all of Guerrero’s heroics, the bottom of the order may have provided the most crucial difference for the Blue Jays. Batters slotted seventh through ninth in the order hit .284 with four homers; by stark comparison, Seattle’s 7-9 hitters batted a miserable .113 with no round-trippers. 

During the regular season, the Blue Jays led the majors with 49 comeback victories; in the ALCS, they trailed in three of their four wins. 

A fifth-inning solo homer from Cal Raleigh, giving the Mariners a 3-1 lead, is his 65th of the year when combining regular and postseason play. That’s the most such homers hit by an American Leaguer in one season. 

Tuesday, October 21

The Los Angeles Angels are in the news—for both good and bad reasons. 

The team names catcher Kurt Suzuki as its new manager, taking over for Ron Washington. The 42-year-old Suzuki last played with the Angels from 2021-22, serving since the team’s front office as a special advisor. He beats out two other former Angels— future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols and Torii Hunter—to land the job. The Angels team Suzuki inherits has not made the playoffs nor has finished at .500 or better over the past 10 seasons, placing last in the AL West in each of the past two years; it finished dead last in the majors this past season with a .225 batting average, and posted an AL-worst 4.89 ERA. 

Meanwhile in an Orange County courtroom, Angels superstar Mike Trout is the first player to testify in the civil suit against the team by the surviving members of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who died of an opioid overdose in 2019. Trout, retaining his own lawyers not provided by the Angels, speaks of good times with his former friend Skaggs, the devastation he felt in the immediate aftermath of his passing, and the bizarre lengths he went to have fun with Eric Kay, the Angels’ communications exec who provided Skaggs with the drugs that killed him. Trout said he would offer money to Kay if he performed stunts that ranged from the painful (taking a 90-MPH pitch to his knee) to the outright gross (eating a bug off the Angels’ clubhouse floor). Once he began hearing that Kay had a drug habit of his own, Trout stopped the “dares” and cash rewards—worried that Kay was using the money to feed his habit. 

Wednesday, October 22

The San Francisco Giants name University of Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello as their new manager at $3.5 million a year—a slightly higher wage than he was making with the Volunteers. Highly respected back in Knoxville, the 47-year-old Vitello brings a winning resume as well as an energetic, fiery disposition that will be interesting to check out given he’ll be the first college coach to take over an MLB team with no previous professional baseball experience. Vitello is not expect to dial back that enthusiasm in San Francisco. He told ESPN in June, “I think you don’t know where the line is until you cross it. And then you make an adjustment.” 

Old-time memorabilia continues to be hot and expensive items. The latest jaw-dropping amount of money plunked down is $2.7 million for the New York Yankees uniform worn by Lou Gehrig in his last appearance with the team at Yankee Stadium, in Game Two of the 1939 World Series. The buyer is anonymous. Gehrig did not play in that game; he had stepped down five months earlier, pulling himself out of the starting lineup just eight games into the season—thus ending his iconic consecutive-game streak at 2,130—and got himself checked out at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he was diagnosed with ALS. He died two years later from that disease. 

Thursday, October 23

It’s the eve of the World Series, with the Blue Jays holding home field advantage against the visiting Dodgers, who are nevertheless strong favorites to be the first team to repeat as champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees. 

Blake Snell, who signed a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers this past offseason, will start for Los Angeles. He’ll oppose the Blue Jays’ Trey Yesavage, who began the year in low-A ball—and did not make his major league debut until September 15. Yesavage is the first rookie to start the first game of a World Series since 2006, when the Tigers’ Justin Verlander and Cardinals’ Anthony Reyes both pitched against one another. On that night, Reyes—who won 13 career regular season games—was the better pitcher, throwing eight solid innings while Verlander, the future Hall of Famer, gave up seven runs (six earned) over five innings of work. 

On the roster front, the Blue Jays are iffy on whether Bo Bichette will be available. The shortstop who batted .311 during the regular season hasn’t played since banging up his knee on September 6, but has recovered at a faster rate in the past couple weeks. 

Meanwhile for the Dodgers, in Alex Vesia—one of the team’s more reliable bullpen arms this season—will be out to start the series as he’s said to be dealing with a “deeply personal family matter.” It is unknown when he may return to the club.  

Wednesday, October 24

For one night, the Blue Jays crumble the Dodgers’ invincible postseason reputation with an 11-4 pounding of the defending champions in World Series Game One at Toronto. The Dodgers inch out to a 2-0 lead over the first three innings against Toronto rookie starter Trey Yesavage, who is lucky not to see more Los Angeles baserunners crossing the plate. But Dodgers starter Blake Snell isn’t his dominant 2025 postseason self; he throws 29 pitches amid a first-inning, bases-loaded jam he survives without conceding a run, lucks out of another rally in the second when Eddie Clement is thrown out at third attempting to sneak another 90 feet on an infield single, then induces a double play grounder to end the third. But his luck runs out beginning in the fourth, when Daulton Varsho launches a game-tying, 423-foot home run to dead center. It’s the first home run allowed by Snell over the last 190 batters he’s faced, going back to August—and the first by a left-handed hitter over his last 659, going way back to June 2024. 

In the sixth, it all falls apart for Snell and the Dodgers. Snell loads the bases on a walk, single and hit batter, ending his night; the Los Angeles bullpen, the Dodgers’ weak link, brings no pleasant surprises to the scene as Emmet Sheehan lets all three of Snell’s baserunners score; with the bags still loaded, one out and Anthony Banda taking over for Sheehan, Addison Barger—stepping in for Davis Schneider—belts the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, expanding the newfound Toronto lead into rout mode. Three batters later, Alejandro Kirk provides the cherry on top to the Blue Jays’ nine-run cake with a two-run blast, making it 11-2. 

The Dodgers can only respond the rest of the way with Shohei Ohtani’s two-run homer in the seventh; when Ohtani returns to the plate in the ninth, a celebratory Rogers Centre crowd chides him with chants of “We don’t need you,” a reference to Ohtani shunning the Blue Jays at the last minute before signing his $700 million contract with the Dodgers at the end of 2023. 

The nine runs put up by the Blue Jays in the sixth are the third-highest total in a World Series inning, behind the 10 notched by the 1929 Athletics (Game Four, seventh inning) and 1968 Tigers (Game Six, third inning). It’s five more runs than what the Dodgers allowed during the entire NLCS against Milwaukee. 

The Dodgers have won just one of 13 World Series openers on the road. The lone victory was Sandy Koufax’s masterful outing against the Yankees to open the 1963 Fall Classic. 

Saturday, October 25

How do the Dodgers avoid getting bruised and battered by an ineffective bullpen? By not using it. Yoshinobu Yamamoto becomes the easy solution to that problem, giving Los Angeles relievers a rest and going the distance for the second straight time this postseason, as the Dodgers even the World Series with a 5-1 Game Two victory. Through the first six innings, both Yamamoto and Toronto starter Kevin Gausman are practically mirror-imaged in their efficiency. Both survive shaky early innings and settle into a groove, with Gausman retiring 17 straight Dodgers one out into the seventh. But the 18th batter, Will Smith, breaks a 1-1 tie with a solo homer to left; Max Muncy follows two batters later with one of his own, pushing the Dodgers further out front, 3-1. From there, Yamamoto enters cruise control. He retires the final 20 Blue Jays he faces and becomes the first pitcher with multiple postseason complete games since Madison Bumgarner in 2014—and the first to do it in consecutive starts since Curt Schilling in 2001. His 105 total pitches are the fewest in a complete-game World Series contest since Greg Maddux in 1995. 

Toronto postseason star-to-date Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who can manage only a line-drive single in four-at-bats against Yamamoto, is asked after the game which of the hurler’s five distinct pitches are the best. “All of them,” he says. 

Monday, October 26

The Baltimore Orioles name former Cleveland associate manager Craig Albernaz as their new pilot, as they attempt to turn around the fortunes of a playoff-caliber team that took an unexpected dip with a last-place finish in the AL East this past season. The 42-year-old Albernaz has been praised over an 11-year career as coach and minor league manager as one who understands the modern player, having himself been a catcher from 2006-14 but never making it past the Triple-A level. 

Tuesday, October 27

In a game eerily reminiscent of their epic 18-inning victory over the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series, the Dodgers need the same amount of frames to depose of the Blue Jays, 6-5, taking Game Three and a one-game series lead. 

There are many heroes for the Dodgers. Early on, it’s Shohei Ohtani, who in his first four at-bats knocks out a pair of doubles and home runs; his four extra-base hits tie a World Series record previously held by Frank Isbell for, of all teams, the Chicago “Hitless Wonders” White Sox in their 1906 Fall Classic upset of the powerful crosstown Cubs. In the ninth, Ohtani comes up for a fifth time with one out and nobody on base—and Toronto manager John Schneider wants nothing to do with him anymore. He orders Ohtani intentionally walked—and does so again in the 11th, 13th and 15th, with two of those walks also occurring with nobody on. Ohtani will be walked a fifth time in the 17th while facing live pitches—but Eric Lauer, the eighth of nine Toronto pitchers on the night, gives the All-World slugger nothing good to hit, purposely missing the strike zone low and away on all four pitches. 

Among the other heroes for the Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw, dropped into a two-out, basses-loaded jam in the 12th and inducing Nathan Lukes into an inning-ending ground out on a pitch that would have been called ball four; Will Klein, the Dodgers’ last available reliever, who allows a hit and two walks with five strikeouts through four crucial shutout innings (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, two days removed from a complete-game victory, was warming up to pitch a possible 19th inning); and Freddie Freeman, whose leadoff, 18th-inning blast over the center-field wall off Brendon Little finally sends everyone home. 

The Blue Jays are at times their own worst enemies in their attempt to prevail. Early in the second inning, a delayed strike three call on Daulton Varsho confuses baserunner Bo Bichette, who believes it’s ball four and begins a slow walk to second; he ends up getting tagged out. Later in the 10th, Davis Schneider is sent home on Lukes’ two-out double, but is out by a mile at home plate—all while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. awaits in the on-deck circle. Upon being tagged out, Lukes immediately looks back at Blue Jays third base coach Carlos Febles as if to say, “Really?” 

By the late innings, the Toronto lineup is a pseudo-shell of its original nine, with names rarely heard from so far this postseason (Ty France, Tyler Heineman, Myles Straw) being used—some by design, others by force, as 2025 batting star George Springer departs in the seventh after experiencing side pain on a foul swing; he won’t return until Game Six. (The five Toronto players who sub in throughout the course of the game go a combined 2-for-17.) 

The 18 innings tie a postseason record accomplished four previous times. While the Dodgers’ victory is not as long as their 2018 marathon against Boston—running six hours and 39 minutes, compared to that game’s seven hours and 20 minutes—there are more pitches (609 to 561). Of the 290 baseballs allotted for the game, 220 are used, with officials wondering if they have to make a late-night run to the nearest Big Five Sporting Goods store. 

Freeman is the second player, after Goose Goslin in 1934-35, to accrue multiple walkoff hits in World Series history—and the first to do so both times with a home run, having also hit the grand slam that won Game One of the 2024 Series against the Yankees. 

Ohtani’s five walks tie a postseason record, while his four free passes set another; the three bases-empty IBBs are two more than what had been seen in 705 prior World Series games—with Albert Pujols getting the previous such free pass in 2011. Overall, Ohtani’s nine times reaching base shatters a postseason mark and matches three other players who did it in a regular season game: Max Carey (1922), Johnny Burnett (1932) and Stan Hack (1942). 

The Blue Jays leave 19 men on base; the Dodgers, 18. No previous team had ever left as many baserunners stranded in a World Series game. 

The Dodgers’ 10 pitchers set a Fall Classic record; the postseason mark remains 11, by the Padres in an NLDS game—against the Dodgers—in 2020. 

Tuesday, October 28

World Series Game Four turns out to be a far more ordinary affair than the 18-inning saga played the night before—except that Shohei Ohtani is not his usual brilliant self. A night after reaching base in all nine of his plate appearances in helping to lead the Dodgers to victory, Los Angeles fans are anxious to see Ohtani continue working his magic at the plate—and on the mound, where he gets the start. Ohtani pitches just well enough to take the loss as the Blue Jays bounce back, 6-2, and even the series at two games apiece. This ensures that the series will finish in Toronto, either for Game Six or Seven. 

After the Dodgers take an 1-0 lead on a Kiké Hernandez sacrifice fly in the second, the Blue Jays—as they have been prone to do all season—overcome the deficit. And Vladimir Guerrero Jr., as he has been prone to do throughout the postseason, is at the center of it, launching a two-run homer in the third to give the Jays a lead they will hold to the end. The Guerrero homer is the only blemish on Ohtani until the seventh, when he gives up base hits to the first two batters to force his departure from the mound. The Dodgers’ bullpen, so surprisingly staunch the night before, returns to falling apart—as Anthony Banda and Blake Treinen combine to give up three hits with an intentional walk that will lead to four Toronto runs plating (with two charged to Ohtani). 

At the plate, Ohtani walks in the first inning—extending his streak of consecutive plate appearances safely reaching base at Dodger Stadium to 14—but is retired in his next three at-bats, striking out twice against Blue Jays starter (and winner) Shane Bieber. 

Guerrero’s home run gives him seven for the postseason—one more than any other Blue Jays player has hit in a postseason career. 

Wednesday, October 29

Yesavage is loose. It’s a big night for the Blue Jays and their young pitcher Trey Yesavage, who sets a World Series rookie record with 12 strikeouts over seven excellent innings as Toronto downs the Dodgers at Los Angeles in Game Five, 6-1. The win gives the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead in the series, which heads back to Toronto for Game Six and, if necessary, Game Seven. Apart from his 12 K’s, the 22-year-old Yesavage walks no Dodgers—making him the first pitcher, rookie or not, with a 12-0 K/BB line in a World Series game. He had walked nine batters over his previous three starts, encompassing 13.2 innings. Yesavage gets immediately support in the first inning as David Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each connect on home runs within the first three pitches thrown by Los Angeles starter Blake Snell. The Dodgers get a run back on a third-inning homer from Kiké Hernandez, but Daulton Varsho’s leadoff triple the next inning, followed by an Eddie Clement sac fly, regains the two-run advantage for Toronto. The Blue Jays will add more insurance in the seventh and eighth, notching the evening’s final three runs with the help of four Los Angeles wild pitches—three of them alone in the seventh. Both numbers set World Series records.

Like the rest of the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani has a quiet night, going hitless in four at-bats. Take away his three-homer game against Milwaukee in NLCS Game Four and four-extra-base hit performance in World Series Game Three, Ohtani is batting .151 (8-for-53) this postseason with three homers, eight walks and 22 strikeouts. 

Numerous reports say that the Minnesota Twins will hire former Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton as their new pilot. Shelton was fired by the Pirates after a 12-26 start this past season; in four-plus seasons overall, he was 306-440 with the Bucs. He goes from one low-budget situation to another in Minnesota, where he served as bench coach for the Twins from 2018-19. 

Thursday, October 30

The Washington Nationals, one of the youngest teams this past season, is set to be run by the youngest manager in over 50 years. The team names 33-year-old Blake Butera as its new pilot, hoping to bring enthusiasm and a knack for analytical knowledge to a franchise that has suffered six straight losing seasons since winning the 2019 World Series. Drafted in the 35th round by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015, Butera never made it past low-A ball through two seasons in the minors. He found later success as a minor league manager, then ascended through the Rays’ front office to become its senior player development director. 

Butera will be the youngest manager since Frank Quilici, who was also 33 when he took over the Twins halfway through the 1972 season. 

Friday, October 31

There will be a Game Seven in the World Series as the Dodgers get solid pitching—and a bit of ninth-inning luck—in defeating the Blue Jays at Toronto in Game Six, 3-1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto does not throw a third straight complete game for Los Angeles, but his six innings—allowing just a run on five hits—is enough to pick up his fourth win this postseason. Offensively, the Dodgers score all three of their runs in the third, with Mookie Betts breaking out a Series slump with a two-run single to provide the ultimate difference. The rally comes against Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, whose splitter is dominant early on—with five strikeouts over the first two innings—before becoming more mortal in the third. 

In the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Jays mount a serious rally which goes literally stuck—before turning fatal. Addison Barger’s gapper to the left field looks to bring home the Jays’ second run of the game, but the ball gets stuck at the base of the Rogers Centre outfield wall padding, prompting Dodgers outfielders to raise their hands and signal for a ground-rule double—which umpires grant, sending pinch-runner Miles Straw back to third. Still, the Jays have runners at second and third with no outs, forcing the Dodgers to bring on Tyler Glasnow to perform rare duty as the Dodgers’ closer. Glasnow’s first pitch to Ernie Clement is a soft pop out to first base; his third is an Andres Gimenez line drive that hangs up for Kiké Hernandez, who runs in and makes the catch. Barger, believing the ball would drop in front of Hernandez, strays too far from second and is doubled off to end the rally—and the game. 

The Angels, who had the AL’s worst team ERA (4.89) this past season, is poaching away Mike Maddux, the pitching coach for a Texas Rangers staff which had the majors’ best (3.47). The 64-year-old Maddux, older brother of Hall-of-Fame ace Greg Maddux, is one of the more respected coaches in the majors, having overseen pitching staffs for four different teams (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Washington and the Rangers) over the past 23 years. He may face his toughest challenge yet with the Angels, whose promising pitching talent has been full of disappointment over the past few seasons.