MLB fall classic 2025 World Series 2025: Blue Jays blow out Dodgers as Addison Barger hits first pinch-hit grand slam in Fall Classic history
The biggest question before the 2025 World Series was whether the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup would be able to continue its historically impressive postseason performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers’ historically impressive rotation, and whether the Los Angeles Dodgers would find themselves in a similar situation.
The first round went in the Blue Jays’ favor, and then the Dodgers’ bullpen began to interfere.
On Friday, in a nine-run sixth inning, the Blue Jays defeated the Dodgers 11-4 to take a 1-0 lead in the World Series. The second game will be Saturday (8 p.m. ET, Fox) in Toronto.
The Dodgers had reason to be confident before this match. Starting pitcher Blake Snell had allowed just two earned runs in 21 innings in three postseason games, and he had a stellar performance in eight innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. But the Blue Jays stopped that run.
Snell struck out only 12 of his 24 batters. He allowed 8 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, and a hit-by-pitch. In the sixth inning, he tied the game with the bases loaded and no outs. Emmett Sheehan was brought in to tie the game. Three batters later, the score was 5-2, yet no one was out.
Anthony Banda was then brought in to tie the game. One batter later, Addison Barger’s grand slam made it 9-2, the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history.
Alejandro Kirk then hit another two-run homer, bringing the game to a head. It was a night of immense joy for the Rogers Centre crowd, who were witnessing their first World Series victory since 1993, 32 years and one day later.
The Jays’ success at Snell’s expense gave Toronto three more runs against the Dodgers’ rotation than the Brewers had scored in the entire NLCS. It also offset a poor start by Trey Yesavage, a rookie drafted last year who began the season at Low-A Dunedin. He left the game after four innings of two-run ball, and considering his best pitch, his splitter, was barely functioning, the situation could have been worse.
Bo Bichette also returned after being out for more than a month due to a sprained left knee. Batting cleanup, he went 1-for-2 with a walk and struck out a pinch-runner in the sixth inning. He also performed well at second base in his first appearance at the position since joining the minor leagues in 2019.
All of this led to the Dodgers suffering only their second loss in four rounds of the postseason. This is a defeat that could leave a deep impression.
Losing the first game of the World Series is bad enough for the Dodgers. Losing by seven runs is even worse. But the most worrying thing is that, assuming Snell’s performance is poor, theoretically Sheehan and Banda are two of Los Angeles’ top four players out of the bullpen, and Alex Vesia is likely to be out for the entire series.
Given the way the Dodgers have deployed them, the other two are Blake Treinen, who suffered a torn patella during the entire postseason in Los Angeles, and rookie Sasaki, who is in his first month of relief work and is the team’s new closer.
Surprisingly, despite a 4.88 ERA on Friday, this was the first time the Dodgers’ bullpen suffered a defeat in the entire postseason. The Dodgers’ rotation was sufficient to conceal this fatal flaw for 10 games in the first three rounds. The question now is whether he’ll have to do this for four more games to give Los Angeles a win in the Fall Classic.
But the silver lining for Los Angeles was that Shohei Ohtani hit a home run.
The Dodgers will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays in Game 2.
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