Griffin Floyd
The Los Angeles Dodgers kept their season alive on Friday, Oct. 31, defeating the Blue Jays 3-1 in Toronto to push the World Series to a winner-takes-all Game 7. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto tore through the Blue Jays lineup once again, while typical starter Tyler Glasnow came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning to freeze runners at second and third with Los Angeles’ season on the brink.
Game 6 wasn’t without controversy, as a double to the warning track in the ninth inning got caught in the wall, prompting left field umpire John Tumpane to rule the play dead and award a ground rule double, preventing a Blue Jays’ run from scoring.
Here are the winners and losers heading into the final game of the 2025 MLB season.
Winner: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto put together his fourth quality start in five games this postseason, allowing just one run and five hits across six innings.
Yamamoto struck out six batters and forced two double plays: while he wasn’t at the dominant level of his last two starts, both of which went nine innings, he did what he needed to do to wriggle out of jams and keep Los Angeles alive.
Still just in his second MLB season, the right-hander has done everything Los Angeles has asked of him this postseason, even preparing to enter Game 3 in extra innings just two days after his previous start. If the Dodgers come back to win the World Series, he’s got an excellent chance of winning MVP honors.
Winner: Mookie Betts
Mookie Betts has had a horrendous month at the plate, slashing .239/.329/.328 with just four doubles and a triple across 16 games played. Batting cleanup with the Dodgers’ season on the brink, Betts managed to vindicate the faith manager Dave Roberts placed in him, going 1-for-3 and plating a pair of runs with a two-out, two-strike single that gave Los Angeles a lead they never relinquished.
Betts also drew an eighth inning walk that loaded the bases, attempting to give the Dodgers’ shaky bullpen much-needed insurance, and turned a double play at shortstop, doing a bit of everything as he kept his team alive. It wasn’t the most spectacular game in the world, but it was the performance the run-starved Dodgers needed.
Loser: Umpire John Tumpane
With a runner on first and no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Blue Jays right fielder Addison Barger roped a fly ball to the warning track. It wedged under the outfield wall, and left field umpire John Tumpane ruled the ball out of play for an automatic double — freezing pinch runner Myles Straw at third base.
In all but the rarest of cases, fans and media only pay attention to an umpire’s name when they’re making mistakes. Tumpane’s questionable call vaulted him into the same conversation as Don Denkinger, Jim Joyce and Larry Barnett, a career-defining play that will draw the ire of baseball fans for decades to come… especially if the Dodgers manage to take Game 7.
Loser: Dodgers’ Offense
Despite only scoring one run, the Blue Jays actually outhit the Dodgers on Friday night, picking up eight hits (four for extra bases) to four and three, respectively, for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers managed to string together their hits at opportune moments, going 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position to scrape across a pair of runs, but the fact remains that they’ve looked lost at the plate since the middle innings of Game 3. Los Angeles needs more production at the plate, especially given their shaky bullpen.
They managed to survive a late Toronto rally in Game 6, but with Roki Sasaki, their only real reliable reliever, throwing 33 pitches, they might only be able to count on him for an out or two in Game 7 if it comes to that. Buckle up.
