Baseball

Shohei Ohtani: nine times on base on the eve of a World Series start on the mound
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Shohei Ohtani: nine times on base on the eve of a World Series start on the mound
Credit: MLB

Yesterday, you could say the game had the makings of a World Series classic. And I said that last night, long before the Dodgers won it in 18 innings: it was all a ball game.

There are several takeaways from all this. First, it's impossible to overlook the fact that this was the second time the Dodgers had made it to the 18th inning of a World Series game since 2018. Max Muncy had ended the debate against Boston.

Here, Freddie Freeman did it in the longest game of the 2025 Series. It was three more innings than the Tigers v. Mariners game.

Freeman, who hit a walk-off home run in Game #1 of the 2024 World Series against the Yankees, is the only player in history with two World Serieswalk-offs.

https://twitter.com/SlangsOnSports/status/1983078235551498284

But we must also mention the defensive play of both teams. Teoscar Hernandez's four hits. Of the two teams that used more than 20 players each for 6:39 yesterday.

In fact, the Blue Jays used their entire bench and only had three pitchers available at the end of the game: Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber. Bieber will pitch tonight, even though he warmed up late in the game.

For the Dodgers, bench players remained (I'd have taken Will Smith out of there first, but oh well) and only two pitchers were available: Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who warmed up despite throwing 105 pitches on Saturday.

A crazy game, I say.

https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1983059977901412728

On both sides, the relievers were incredible (more so than the offense, which did nothing on both edges from the eighth inning to the 17th) and held the game at arm's length. Eric Lauer and Will Klein, who each pitched more than four innings, were heroes for their club.

In fact, according to Lauer, everyone is ready to do it again tonight.

https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/1983103925533528274

Earlier, I said that the Dodgers had two pitchers left, but I didn't include Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani will be pitching tonight, and there was no chance of the DH pitching the day before he left.

But let's talk about the DH… who just wanted to go to bed once the game was over.

In his first four at-bats, he placed the ball in a safe place four times: two doubles and two home runs. Even then, we thought he was erasing his reputation as the guy who doesn't hit in the playoffs.

But he added five base appearances: four intentional walk-offs and one walk-off where he wasn't challenged. In short, he got on base nine times.

That's a playoff record and tied the regular-season mark in Major League Baseball history. All this, as I said, just hours before the start of Game 4 of the World Series.

Expect more of the same tonight: if he has to, he'll get free passes.

https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1983075990478721381

In a game where Dave Roberts considered having a position player pitch, the Dodgers didn't get a chance to see Shohei Ohtani make a difference because his bat was taken out of his hands.

And even though Freddie Freeman was the hero, it was the right thing to do for the Blue Jays. Being beaten by Shohei Ohtani was not an option.

The last time the Japanese had played at Dodger Stadium, he had distinguished himself by hitting three home runs and throwing six innings without giving up a run. We know what he's capable of, and John Schneider did what he had to do.

But tonight, as a starter, Nippon will be more inevitable.

PMLB
  • Was Addison Barger taken out of the game too early? The question arises.

  • Yum.

https://twitter.com/FoulTerritoryTV/status/1983053273935327354

  • Reminder: the Canadiens play at 10:30 p.m. tonight in Seattle.

https://twitter.com/HabsOnReddit/status/1983035721775554908

  • What will Game #4 look like?

  • That's a good one.

This content was created with the help of AI.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!