Dodgers look to bounce back as Yoshinobu Yamamoto aims to quiet Blue Jays offense – Dodgers Digest

The Dodgers fell back into their concerning old habits in Game 1 of the World Series. The offense squandered some early chances for big innings, as they left the bases loaded with one out in the second and had three straight baserunners to start the third inning and only managed one run. Blake Snell fell back into the stereotypical Snell outing, struggling with command and getting pulled at 100 pitches after loading the bases with no outs in the sixth inning. The bullpen came in and made a mess of it, turning a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth to an 11-2 deficit in the top of the seventh. The Jays lived up to their reputation, striking out only four times in the game and hitting three homers. Trey Yesavage wasn’t exactly sharp, but the Dodgers only mustered two hits off their much-maligned bullpen in five innings (although three of those innings came with the game out of reach). It was pretty much the worst possible way to start a series, but it still only counts as one loss and the Dodgers have another opportunity to steal home field advantage with their ace on the mound tonight against Toronto’s ace.

5:00 PM

Toronto

DH
Ohtani (L)
DH
Springer

SS
Betts
LF
Lukes (L)

1B
Freeman (L)
1B
Guerrero Jr.

C
Smith
C
Kirk

RF
T. Hernández
CF
Varsho (L)

3B
Muncy (L)
3B
Clement

LF
K. Hernández
RF
Barger (L)

2B
Edman (S)
2B
Kiner-Falefa

CF
Pages
SS
Giménez (L)

P
Yamamoto (R)
P
Gausman (R)

Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball coming off one of the best starts of his Dodger career. Yama took the ball in Game 2 against the Brewers and went the distance, allowing a run and three hits over nine full innings with seven strikeouts and only one walk. 81 of the 111 pitches Yama threw were strikes, and he had a full 10 days of rest after throwing that many pitches. The rust might have gotten to Snell a bit last night, so hopefully Yamamoto is better equipped for the extended layoff. Yama has missed the Blue Jays in the regular season in each of his two Major League seasons. He did make a the Game 2 start in last years’ World Series and was excellent, allowing two walks and only one hit (a Juan Soto homer) over 6 1/3 innings to lead the Dodger to a 2-0 series lead. This time he’s tasked with playing the stopper, looking to slow down and offense that’s frankly been unbelievable this postseason. Yamamoto allowed 14 homers in 30 starts this season and only allowed more than one homer in a game three times. Including the postseason, Yamamoto has only allowed three homers off his four-seamer. Two of the three homers the Jays hit last night came off four-seamers and have been hammering fastballs all postseason. Yamamoto threw the splitter more than the fastball in his start against the Brewers, but the splitter was a bit more homer-prone during the regular season.

Kevin Gausman gets his first World Series start in the 13th year of his Major League career. The former Dodger draftee (unsigned sixth rounder in 2010) really turned his career around after a 4.30 ERA in his first seven seasons with Baltimore and Atlanta. Gausman spent two years in San Francisco and posted a 3.00 ERA in 45 games before signing a five year deal in Toronto. He’s in the fourth year of that deal and has made 30+ starts in each of those four years. He had a 3.59 ERA in 193 innings this season and really finished the year strong with a 2.81 ERA in the second half of the season. Gausman was a tiny bit better on the road this season (3.86 ERA at home, 3.33 on the road). Gausman had an up-and-down September, allowing eight runs in 9 1/3 innings over his final two starts but also tossing a two-hit complete game shutout in early September against the Astros. The Dodgers saw Gausman in Toronto last April and he allowed a run and five hits over seven strong innings.

Gausman’s been pretty consistent in three playoff starts this season. He’s gone exactly 5 2/3 innings in each start and has two one-run outings and one two-run outing. He’s combined to allow 10 hits with 12 strikeouts and six walks in those 17 innings, but the Blue Jays have lost two of his three starts. He also tossed an inning in relief in Game 7 against the Mariners and had a bit of a rough scoreless inning. He walked the leadoff batter and got a double play. He then intentionally walked Cal Raleigh before issuing another walk, but got a groundout to end the inning. He’s struggled a bit with command of late. In his most recent start, only 53 of his 91 pitches were strikes. In that relief outing, only nine of his 19 pitches were.

Gausman is primarily a two-pitch pitcher, leading with a fastball that averages 94.5 MPH. He throws that over half the time (53.7 percent) and plays off it with one of the better splitters in the game. He threw the splitter 37.6 percent of the time and batters hit only .181 with a .294 slugging (expected .196 and .294, respectively). He’ll sometimes mix in a slider to righties (8.6 percent usage overall but 13 percent against righties) and he gets a whiff on that 37 percent of the time, but is allowing a .342 average and .605 slugging percentage off it (expected .366 and .652 so he’s actually been a bit lucky on it).

The Dodger stick with the same lineup as last night. Andy Pages remains starting in center despite his postseason-long struggles, but Dave Roberts did say he was keeping an eye on it in regards to his slumps. A few changes in the Toronto lineup, with a couple more lefty hitters in. Nathan Lukes starts in left and Addison Barger gets the start in right. Bo Bichette also sits after returning from a knee injury yesterday, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa starting at second.

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Not many updates on the Dodger side, but the Blue Jays did announce their next two starters. Max Scherzer will start in Game 3 and Shane Bieber will get the ball in Game 4.

John Schneider announced Blue Jays starters for Game 3 (Max Scherzer) and Game 4 (Shane Bieber)

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 25, 2025

If the series goes to Game 5, Yesavage figures to be the option despite being on four days’ rest again. The Dodgers also officially announced what everyone assumed, as they’ll throw Tyler Glasnow in Game 3 and Shohei Ohtani in Game 4.

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First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 and will be on FOX.