World Series 2025 recap: The Blue Jays took Game 1 of the World Series from the Dodgers with a historic inning
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Toronto's nine-run sixth inning broke open the game and culminated in a 1-0 series lead.
Addison Barger of the Toronto Blue Jays rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning during Game One of the 2025 World Series on Friday in Toronto.Daniel Shirey / MLB / Getty Images
Updated October 24, 2025, 11:29 PM EDT By Rohan Nadkarni
The Toronto Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the World Series with an 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
Playing in their first World Series since 1993, the Blue Jays effectively won the game with a nine-run sixth inning — which included a never-before-seen World Series feat.
After the Dodgers scored one run each in the second and third innings, Toronto first tied the game thanks to a two-run homer by Daulton Varsho in the fourth. The Blue Jays then put the game away in the bottom of the sixth, which started with a Bo Bichette walk.
Bichette's walk was followed by an Alejandro Kirk single and Varsho getting hit by a pitch. That loaded the bases for Ernie Clement, who drove home the go-ahead run with a single to left center.
Nick Lukes walked on Toronto's next at bat, bringing home another run.
Andres Giminez followed up with a single to right, increasing the lead to 5-2.
After George Springer grounded into a fielder's choice at home, Toronto had the bases loaded with one out. Instead of sending Davis Schneider to the plate, Blue Jays manager John Schneider decided to have Addison Barger pinch hit.
The decision could not have been better, as Barger hit a gamebreaking grand slam — the first pinch hit grand slam in World Series history.
Three batters later, Toronto put the capper on the third-highest scoring inning in World Series history (and highest in over 50 years), as Alejando Kirk hit a two-run homer to center.
By the end of the inning, the Blue Jays had scored nine runs to take an 11-2 lead over Los Angeles. Even though Shohei Ohtani would hit the first homer of his World Series career later in the game, it proved to be meaningless.
It was another come-from-behind victory for MLB's comeback kings, as Toronto led the majors in the regular season with 49 such wins. Pitcher Trey Yesavage got the start for the Blue Jays, throwing four innings and allowing two runs. Yesavage became the second-youngest pitcher to start a Game 1 in the World Series, and he avoided disaster, stranding baserunners in both the second and third.
Blake Snell got the start and the loss for the Dodgers, as he allowed five runs in five-plus innings. Snell started the fateful sixth for Los Angeles, and was taken off the mound after he had already allowed the bases to get loaded.
The Dodgers now trail in the World Series for the first time since 2018, when they lost to the Boston Red Sox. Los Angeles never trailed in the 2020 or 2024 series.
Toronto won its first World Series game in 32 years. The Blue Jays hit three home runs Friday, giving them 23 in the postseason.
Game 2 is Saturday.
NEW UPDATES4h ago / 11:29 PM EDT
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The second game of the World Series is always a must win for the team that lost the first one. We'll see if the Dodgers can respond.
Lol hopefully the answer is no
I second that emotion.
Not such good news today - Dodgers now have home team advantage for 3 games, and only need to win 2 of them.
It’s best of seven Buzz, if the Dodgers win 2 of 3 at home, my prediction will be wrong but on the plus side Toronto will get to play at home, they just would have to win them both to take the Series.
LOL. Proof that I never was good at math.
Here is a stat I saw that i found interesting. From 2017 to 2024 zero major league pitchers pitched a complete game in the playoffs, in 2025 the dodgers Yamamoto has pitched 2 complete games.
He's an amazing pitcher well worth his 325 million dollar contract
Obviously he's the best there is.
Holy smoke! 325 mil? Spread over how many years?
12 years, his bench mate Ohtani will collect 700 million over 10 years but he is a 2 way player. He is capable of winning 15 games a season while hitting 50 + home runs.
Well, good for them. I was always the last one picked for a scrub baseball team when I was a kid, so there was no way I could become that rich.
Today was like a double-header, all in one game, a virtual marathon. It was a record length, 18 innings, for a World Series game, and interestingly enough the longest MLB baseball game was played in 1920, 26 innings, wherein one of the teams was, guess who, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Now it's necessary for the Blue Jays to win three of the last four games. I don't expect a miracle.
Absollutely a marathon, finished at 2am my time
According to the announcers last night, the only other time a World Series game went 18 innings was in 2018. It was also Game 3 and it was also at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers can't seem to dodge those records.
Okay, it's a whole new series - best 2 out of 3. Let's go Blue Jays.
Full agreement from me, Buzz. This is a critical win for the Blue Jays.
Now, if they win game 5, they will have major momentum. If they lose, they have to repeat their league performance of winning games 6 and 7 at home.
It is indeed a whole new series!
I believe the Jays must take game 5 in order to have a chance as the Dodgers pitcher for game 6 is Yanamoto and he dominated the Jays in game 2
I know the Dodgers are the favorite in a lot of people's eyes, Hell i picked them to win in 5, that's gone now, but my question is why are they favored by everyone? History? legend? because when you look at the regular season the Jays had a better record. Or do people just automatically favor the west coast Yankees?
I could be wrong but I think there are basically 3 reasons
- They won last year
- They have the Shohei (along with a bunch of other big names)
- National pride (I live in Canada and most people I know think the Jays can take it)
The Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball, and other than the Yankees and one or two other teams it isnt even close. The best players cost the most money, although obviously the most highly paid players dont always win. I think there was also a general consensus this year that the National League was stronger than the American League.
The Jays had a better record, so technically they should be the Favorites, I don't have a dog in this fight, i just find it interesting how they are the favorites in a lot of peoples eyes.
Before I left Canada I had 4-seat season's tickets for the Blue Jays home games that I shared with my brother and two good friends. When I got the package we would have a round-robin game choosing session followed by some trading. The tickets most in demand by all of us were the ones with the Yankees.
Sure as hell they are in a lot of Canadian eyes, especially considering the recent cross-border political situation.
I know, weird isn't it
Congrats, they delivered a win for game 5!!
Lol well Yesavage (and the rest of the Jays) deserve most of the credit, but thanks
Way to go, Blue Jays!!!!! Now, even though they're facing Yamamoto for the next game they still have home team advantage for these last two games and only need to win one of them. LET'S GO JAYS!!!!
They are in a great situation 3-2 with the final two games at home. But Yamamoto is arguably LAD's best pitcher. The challenge remains, but I like Jays' position far better than LAD's.
As much as I hate it I'm predicting the series will go to game 7. Yamamoto is just too good a pitcher
I agree with you on that. I don't expect that Yamamoto will lose. There can be greater excitement when the final result gets to the bottom of the wire. That happened when Joe Carter hit his most famous home run.
We are down to one day winner take all tomorrow.
Even though the Blue Jays doubled the number of hits the Dodgers got I'm not surprised by the result because of Yamamoto. The Jays seem to have a problem capitalizing when they have runners on base. Oh well, as Scarlett O'Hara said in Gone With the Wind, "Tomorrow is another day."
The final out (actually the second out) in the 9th inning was not a tough play since the left fielder was playing in close. The Blue Jays runner made a mistake in jumping the gun because he thought he could score if the ball fell in for a hit. Throw back behind him to second, double play game over.
Hopefully Scherzer and the rest of the Jays bring their "A" game tonight (and the Dodgers don't)
I really had high hopes for a comeback in the 9th last night but no luck
Yesterday they just couldn't get it right. I was disappointed with so many runners left on base not getting the hits to make them score. Hope they don't disappoint all those fans today. Although I can't see the game, I'll be watching its progression on MLB that notifies webwatchers with noting runs, hits, errors, strikes, balls, outs, innings and score as they happen and indicate runners on bases - not like being there or watching it on TV, but at least it's something that enables some excitement or disappointment. .
I just watched the notifications for the bottom of the 2nd inning and it displayed the reason for my frustration about the Blue Jays not capitalizing with runners on the bases. They just loaded the bases, and then the Dodgers' pitcher struck out the side, no score.
Ooops! They must have read my comment. Bottom of the third Blue Jays scored 3 runs.
When they could not capitalize with bases loaded at the bottom of the 9th, I couldn't watch the progression any more. I'll check back in a while.
Well I'm proud of the boys for the run they made anyway. After all it's not about winning it's whether everyone had fun and enjoyed themselves... Who am I kidding it's all about winning, damn that Yamamoto
Better luck to them next year
Here in L.A. we thought the Blue Jays were outstanding opponents who played great baseball, and they might have won. Hats off to them for a great season, but someone has to win and someone has to lose. That's baseball.
A nailbiter to the end - actually a tossup as to which team was going to take the cake.
We were on the edge of our seats, especially for the last two games. I thought the Blue Jays had it during the 7th game. Baseball at its finest. Really exciting and really fun.
Unfortunately it didn't have the fantastic ending like the Joe Carter famous home run did, but I must admit it WAS an exciting series.
The Dodger are, of course, my hometown team, but I would have been perfectly happy if the Blue Jays won. However, it's been a very rough year in L.A. with the horrendous fires,Trump sending the military to invade our city and the ICE attacks, so the Dodgers winning gave everyone something to celebrate.
I remember the Joe Carter homer well, but what you don't realize is that Philadelphia fans expect to lose every game of every sport by the craziest plays and scores possible scenarios right up until the clock hits 00:00.
I loved this ending and was just as shocked as Mookie Betts was.
My wife was born and raised in LA for 40 plus years, attending many dodger games so we root for them whenever the Eagles or Phillies aren't on.
As to the Wild Thing and the way they brought Mitch Williams into the game, every Phillies fan in the room groaned because we knew he would fuck it up
and he didn't disappoint.
LOL. Yah, I bet Mitch has never been able to live that one down. There is one well known NT member who seems to be a die-hard fan of all Philadelphia sports teams.
Great series. Blue Jays were inches away from winning on so many occasions. I feel bad for Donnie Baseball. Guy deserves a ring after all these decades in the game.
It did have its exciting moments, and some record-setting as well.
Looking for a three-peat in 2026!
I'd say the odds are with you.
As the great Yogi Berra said: "It ain't over till it's over." And we'll leave it at that.