If I had a nickel for every time a Dodger first baseman hit a walk off homer in the 18th inning of Game 3 in the World Series after Brad Paisley sang the National Anthem, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Ok that was kind of cheating because in Game 3 in 2018 Max Muncy started the game at first but moved to second in the 15th inning but still holy shit. The Dodgers and Blue Jays played two games worth of innings last night and after a number of near misses, Freddie Freeman finally broke free of the marine layer and hit another big World Series walk-off homer for the Dodgers. The much-maligned Dodger bullpen allowed one run in 13 1/3 innings, headlined by the two last guys out of the pen. Edgardo Henriquez struck out two in two perfect innings before giving way to Will Klein, who probably never has to pay for a meal in LA again. Klein threw 72 pitches in four shutout innings and allowed a hit and two walks with five strikeouts, keeping the Dodgers in the game against a Toronto bullpen with two length guys available. On a night with a walk-off 18 inning homer and Shohei Ohtani reaching base nine times, Klein was the headliner. The Dodgers are up 2-1 in the series and can make tomorrow’s game a potential clincher with a win tonight. That guy that reached base nine times yesterday is starting today, btw.
5:00 P.M.
Los Angeles
LF
Lukes (L)
DH
Ohtani (L)
1B
Guerrero Jr.
SS
Betts
DH
Bichette
1B
Freeman (L)
RF
Barger (L)
C
Smith
C
Kirk
RF
T. Hernández
CF
Varsho (L)
3B
Muncy (L)
3B
Clement
2B
Edman (S)
SS
Gimenez (L)
LF
K. Hernández
2B
Kiner-Falefa
CF
Pages
P
Bieber (R)
P
Ohtani (R)
On paper, the Dodgers have a pretty big pitching advantage in this game. Ohtani will be making his third start this postseason and has gone six innings in both starts. In Game 1 against Philly, he did struggle a bit in the second allowing three runs on a walk and two hits. He got through six without further damage and got the win after the Dodgers scored five in the sixth and seventh innings. He got the Game 4 start against the Brewers and tossed six shutout, striking out 10 with two hits and three walks issued. Ohtani’s struck out 19 batters in his two postseason starts, which should provide a good challenge against a team that strikes out less than any other team in baseball this season. It’ll be interesting to see how rested Ohtani is after last night’s marathon. While a normal starter would have been chilling in the dugout all game, Ohtani had nine plate appearances and reached base each time. He was intentionally walked four times and unintentionally intentionally walked in his final plate appearance. Ohtani also came up wincing after running to second in one of those plate appearances, potentially dealing with cramping like he did in his late-July start in Cincinnati. Just some things to take note of heading into a game where the bullpen is extremely not well-rested.
Bullpen-wise, the Dodgers used every single relief pitcher last night. Klein is definitely going to be unavailable today, and four other relievers threw 30ish pitches last night. Justin Wrobleski threw 28, Roki Sasaki threw 29, Henriquez threw 30 and Emmet Sheehan threw 37. Clayton Kershaw is the most-rested length guy as he only threw eight pitches last night, but he’s never pitched back-to-back days. Anthony Banda only threw three pitches and Jack Dreyer threw five, so they’ll probably be heavily featured today. Blake Treinen threw 15 and could also be available today, but that might not be a great thing for the Dodgers.
Shane Bieber gets his fourth start of the postseason for the Jays. He’s allowed two earned runs in each of his three starts, but two of those starts were pretty short. He started Game 3 in the ALDS and allowed two earned (and one unearned) in 2 2/3, allowing five hits and a walk with two strikeout. His Game 3 start in the ALCS was better, allowing two runs over six innings with four hits and eight strikeouts with only one walk. He also got the start in Game 7 and labored a bit, allowing two runs in 3 2/3 innings but giving up seven hits. He allowed a homer in each ALCS game (both to Julio Rodriguez), continuing his worrisome trend this season. He only made seven starts coming off Tommy John, making his first start on August 22. In 40 1/3 innings, Bieber posted a 3.57 ERA and did throw five or more innings in each start. He allowed at least one run in each game, but only allowed more than two runs in two starts. However, he allowed eight homers in those seven games and overall has allowed at least one homer in eight of the 10 games he’s pitched including the postseason.
Bieber throws a five-pitch mix, leading with a four seamer (35.7 percent). He’s also thrown a slider (20.3 percent), knuckle-curve (18.6 percent), change (12.9 percent) and cutter (12.6 percent). Four of the eight homers he allowed this season came off the fastball. Bieber threw his slider more than his fastball in both starts in the ALCS. It was unhittable in Game 3 (batters went 0-for-7 with three strikeouts and he registered a 58.3 percent whiff rate), but got lit up in Game 7 (4-for-9 with a double and a homer).
The Jays also used their entire bullpen last night, and Bieber was starting to get loose in the bullpen in the later innings. Two of their long relief options could be out of commission today, with Eric Lauer throwing 68 pitches and Brendon Little throwing 29. Chris Bassitt only threw eight pitches, but like Kershaw I can’t imagine he’s ever thrown back-to-backs. Closer Jeff Hoffman threw 33 pitches over two innings and Seranthony Dominguez threw 27 pitches, so they might be down their two biggest leverage arms. Mason Fluharty, Braydon Fisher and Louis Varland threw 14, 19 and 20 pitches respectively, so they should be relatively fresh for tonight. The Jays also pinch hit for a bunch of their lineup, so while Will Smith caught 18 innings last night Alejandro Kirk “only” caught 11. Bo Bichette and Addison Barger also came out of the game early, so they could be a bit more fresh than the Dodger starters.
Smith does get the start after catching all 18 last night. The Dodgers keep the same nine in the lineup, but Teoscar Hernandez moves back up to fifth with Max Muncy hitting sixth. George Springer is out after seemingly suffering an oblique injury on a swing. He had an MRI and was considered “hour-to-hour”, but wasn’t good enough to start today. Nathan Lukes leads off with everyone jumping up a spot in the order and Isiah Kiner-Falefa starting at second and hitting ninth. Bichette gets the start as the DH and hits third.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto was preparing to enter the game yesterday, but is still the Game 6 starter should the series go back to Toronto.
Prior said they needed Yamamoto possibly for 19th inning and he was throwing free and easy in bullpen.
Yamamoto is still good enough to start Game 6 if needed. #Dodgers
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) October 28, 2025
Blake Snell starts tomorrow for the Dodgers and the Jays announced they’d also go with their Game 1 starter, Trey Yesavage, in a potential do-or-die Game 5.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5 PM and will be on Fox.
