Trey Yesavage has a new place in baseball history. The Toronto Blue Jays have a 3-2 World Series lead. The Los Angeles Dodgers have some soul-searching to do.
Behind a World Series rookie-record 12 strikeouts from the 22-year-old Yesavage, the Blue Jays cruised to another win, 6-1, over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the Fall Classic. They will go back to Rogers Centre with two chances to clinch their first championship since 1993.
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Game 6 is scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. ET in Toronto.
The night belonged to Yesavage, who was drafted last season, began 2025 at Low-A Dunedin and didn’t make his MLB debut until mid-September. The Dodgers’ offense was struggling before Wednesday, but Yesavage outright dominated L.A. in Game 5.
He struggled in Game 1 mainly due to a lack of feel for his signature splitter, instead leaning on a slider that can come and go. Both pitches worked to a monstrous degree in Game 5, with the Dodgers whiffing 14 times on 29 swings against the slider and seven times on 10 swings against the splitter. Overall, Yesavage worked an outstanding 44% whiff rate.
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“Historic stuff,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “It’s one thing to be in the zone, and it’s another thing to be in the zone and get some swing-and-miss. Slider and split were electric. I said it before the game: It’s a different pitcher when he has his stuff. Game 1 didn’t have a feel for his split, so kind of blown away at what he did.”
Yesavage struck out every Dodger in a revamped starting lineup at least once and their 2-3-4 hitters two times each, for good measure.
“It’s a crazy world,” Yesavage said after the game. “Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good. So just being a part of this, I’m just very blessed.”
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His lone mistake was an inside fastball that Kik?? Hernandez punished for the Dodgers’ only run.
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Blue Jays hit Blake Snell early, then Dodgers hurt themselves
Toronto had all the runs it needed by the time Yesavage took the mound in the first. Both Yesavage and Blake Snell were trying to recover from rough Game 1 starts, and for Snell, that effort went south on the first three pitches of the game.
Blue Jays leadoff hitter Davis Schneider ambushed a fastball on Snell’s first pitch, then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed an inside mistake to make it 2-0 Toronto before the first out. That made the Jays the first team in World Series history to lead off with back-to-back home runs.
For his homer, Schneider credited George Springer, who remains out due to a side injury sustained in Game 3, for the decision to plan on a fastball.
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“Snell’s a really good pitcher. Last time, I only got a few fastballs, so I was kind of sitting fastball,” Schneider said. “George kind of always preaches you always be ready for the fastball first pitch leading off the game, and George has done it for numerous years, and I got to take some advice when I can get it.”
Snell actually settled in pretty well after the first inning, all but abandoning his fastball against a lineup that has spent this postseason demolishing them. It got rough for him as he reached the seventh inning, though, as he allowed two more baserunners and had to exit the game at 116 pitches.
Both runs ended up scoring, and the first really epitomized the night for the Dodgers. Addison Barger reached first on a grounder that reached the outfield, took second base on a Snell wild pitch, took third on another Snell wild pitch and then scored on an Edgardo Henr??quez wild pitch.
It was the first time in World Series history that a team threw three wild pitches in a single inning.
A little less than two days ago, the Dodgers survived an 18-inning marathon to take a 2-1 lead. However, that game also laid bare their offensive woes, with their failure to score against a Blue Jays bullpen that has struggled almost as much as theirs this postseason. That has continued in the next two games, and L.A. now needs a complete offensive revitalization if it wants to win MLB’s first back-to-back championships since 2000.
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“It doesn’t feel great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “You clearly see those guys finding ways to get hits, move the baseball forward, and we’re not doing a good job of it. … We have that ability. We’ve got to make some adjustments.”
Can the Dodgers still pull this off?
The Dodgers will try to rebound Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in front of a hostile Toronto crowd on Friday in Game 6. On the bright side, they will have on the mound the only starting pitcher who has performed well against this Toronto lineup, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Yamamoto made MLB history with a second straight complete game in Game 2. He has easily been the Dodgers’ most consistent pitcher all year and has postseason bona fides going back to his career in Japan. However, the Blue Jays’ lineup will be getting a second look at him, which has so far been a tough task for starting pitchers.
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“He has really good stuff,” Schneider said. “He’s a smart pitcher, and hopefully we can get to him early on and make him throw some pitches, get to the bullpen and kind of do what we’ve been doing all year with starting pitchers.”
In theory, Yamamoto vs. Gausman is an advantage for the Dodgers based on what we’ve seen this year. And if they can push this series to seven games, no one will enter Rogers Centre fully confident on Saturday. Still, given how the Dodgers’ offense has looked lately, that’s a pretty humungous “if.”
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more from Game 5 of the 2025 World Series:
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Jack Baer
A minor subplot: That was Clayton Kershaw’s final game at Dodger Stadium. He can at least say he ended his career well when he was on the mound, getting that out in Game 3.
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Jack Baer
You can hear Blue Jays fans singing “O Canada” by the MLB Network set from across Dodger Stadium
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
The Dodgers hit .210 in their final three games at Dodger Stadium. They’re honestly lucky this series isn’t already over.
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
For a second straight day, the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers in all phases of the game. Trey Yesavage was unhittable to a historic degree. He had all the runs he needed just three pitches into the game, thanks to Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the Dodgers coughed up a few more runs down the line.
This series is going back to Toronto with the Jays up 3-2 and win away from their first World Series title since 1993.
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Jack Baer
Freddie Freeman strikes out. Two down.
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Jack Baer
Mooke Betts flies out to left. One down.
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Jack Baer
Will Smith leads off the bottom of the ninth with a full-count single off Jeff Hoffman.
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
Blake Treinen, a cyclone of misery for the Dodgers since the start of September, enters the game and throws a clean ninth inning to keep the deficit at five runs. Sure.
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Jack Baer
Ohtani grounds out to end the inning. Just one more inning to go as Blake Treinen enters the game.
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Jack Baer
Alex Call just worked a walk, something Andy Pages hadn’t done all postseason. Up comes Shohei Ohtani against Dominguez with two outs.
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Jack Baer
Pinch-hitter Myles Straw flies out to end the top of the eighth inning. With his team up five runs, Trey Yesavage’s night officially ends as Seranthony Dominguez takes over for the bottom of the eighth.
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Jack Baer
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Jack Baer
Anthony Banda stayed in and allowed a leadoff single to Ernie Clement, who took second on a wild pitch, then scored on a first-pitch single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
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