LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani may be October’s brightest star, a historical talent on a historical run, with exploits destined for baseball lore, but the post-season stage isn’t his alone. It also belongs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shane Bieber and the collective resilience of a Toronto Blue Jays team that continually absorbs vicious body blows, which would leave others reeling, only to emerge stronger than ever.
Their 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 on Tuesday night before a crowd of 52,552 at Chavez Ravine became the latest and greatest example of their trademark determination. They left the laments and disappointment of the gutting 18-inning, 6-5 loss in Game 3 from the previous night, shook off the absence of catalyst and leader George Springer, who tried to swing after injuring his right side but couldn’t go, and interrupted the industry’s deifying of Ohtani by handling him on both sides of the ball.
In refusing to wilt, the Blue Jays evened a best-of-seven Fall Classic, living up to its billing at two games apiece, with Trey Yesavage due to make his fifth post-season start, and first on the road, Wednesday night (Sportsnet, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT) against Blake Snell. They also guaranteed that the series will return to Toronto this weekend, where the 2025 championship will be won.
If the Dodgers are going to keep the Blue Jays from claiming the Commissioner’s Trophy there, they’ll need to match and exceed that level of determination.
“We are a team of uncommon men,” said Ernie Clement, paraphrasing a quote from famed American hockey coach Herb Brooks in the movie Miracle. “I think a normal team would have folded today. And we’re not normal. I think we're the best team in baseball and we got out of bed today with our hair on fire and ready to play.”
Guerrero, who, like Ohtani, is in the midst of an all-time October, delivered the key blow Tuesday, following Nathan Lukes’ one-out single in the third inning by clubbing a hanging sweeper from Ohtani over the wall in left field, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
His seven home runs and 14 RBIs are both Blue Jays post-season records, and with Bo Bichette missing the first two rounds and playing at far less than 100 per cent, and Springer at different points battling injuries, he’s been a steady force driving his team forward.
“The swing that Vlad put on it was elite,” said manager John Schneider. "After (Monday) night and all the recognition that went into Shohei individually and he's on the mound (Tuesday), it's a huge swing from Vlad. It's a huge swing to get us going. I think that gives you some momentum."
Added Clement: “It's just another great player sparking his team and getting us going. That was definitely a swing that kind of changed the momentum of the game and we took it from there. But that's what leaders do. They get us going and we've been jumping on Vladdy's back all post-season. We'll keep doing that if we have to.”
That Guerrero is far from alone is a key feature of the 2025 Blue Jays and they once again needed a team effort to quell the mighty Dodgers, who seemed more drained by the grind of the previous night than their guests.
Bieber, who began stretching in the bullpen Monday and was next in line had Game 3 reached a 19th inning, didn’t shy away from Ohtani leading off the first, walking him on a full count and then quickly escaping the inning unscathed.
He surrendered a run in the second when Max Muncy walked, Tommy Edman singled and Kiké Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly, but he limited the damage there, struck out Ohtani after Guerrero’s go-ahead home run in the third and then diced up the two-way star on three pitches in the fifth.
“I don't want to give in to anybody, especially not Shohei or the Dodgers in the World Series,” said Bieber. “So I think one through nine — not just him specifically — we tried our best to move the ball up, down, left, right, and throw all five pitches for strikes and just off the edge of the zone and thought we were able to establish that after the first or second inning.”
The first strikeout ended Ohtani’s run of 11 consecutive plate appearances reaching base, including the post-season record nine Monday, underlining what an achievement containing him was.
At the same time, handing him an 0-for-3 day also punctured the air of invincibility around him in Game 3, reinforcing that if the Blue Jays execute well, they don’t need to throw up four every time he digs into the box.
“For the most part, we've been getting beat by mistake pitches,” said Chris Bassitt, who continued to deliver star work out of the bullpen with two scoreless innings. The home run Max Scherzer gave up to Ohtani on Monday, on a high and in fastball, “definitely wasn't a mistake, I felt like that was a perfect pitch and he hit a homer, obviously he's really hot. But how good Shane is as a pitcher and able to execute multiple pitches, multiple spots, it's probably the hardest matchup we can give Ohtani. Hats off to him for executing.”
Crucially, Mason Fluharty took over from Bieber with two on and one out in the sixth, getting Muncy to fly out and Edman swinging, and the Blue Jays jumped Ohtani at the plate in the top of the seventh, when Daulton Varsho opened the inning with a single and Clement followed with a double.
The Dodgers turned to Anthony Banda, who surrendered an RBI single to Andres Gimenez and a run-scoring groundout to Ty France, making it a 4-1 game, and after Guerrero was walked intentionally, Blake Treinen came on to surrender RBI singles to Bichette — on his best swing since returning — and Addison Barger.
“I think it starts with belief,” Bichette said of the keys to his team’s resilience. “You have to have the belief that we can win at first. I don't know the exact time that came about this year, but it came. Then the belief grows and a big part of not giving in or giving up or whatever is how much we believe in each other and what we can accomplish. And we know we have the ability to win this series, so we're not going to get back down until this series is over.”
Bassitt, pitching on back-to-back days for the first time since May 27-28, 2012 with high-A Winston-Salem, followed with two clean innings of relief and Louis Varland handled the ninth, allowing Edman’s run-scoring groundout, to help the bullpen reset from Monday.
In so many ways, it was a very Blue Jays day, leading to a very Blue Jays win.
“We genuinely believe in the way we play baseball, and obviously, we have a lot of talented guys to execute that game plan. But we just have a play-style that we're willing to die for. If we get beat, we get beat,” said Bassitt. “As crazy as it is, I understand these are seven-game series, but we play literally that day. And then it turns into who can execute their game plan and or their play style better. …
“For us, it's don't give up home runs and then play really good defence and usually we win the game when we do that and grind starters and don't strike out. We have a trust in the systems.”
Springer’s status, of course, remains a major question for the Blue Jays.
Before the game, Schneider said Springer’s “MRI showed that he's hour-to-hour, day-to-day, so just see how he kind of navigates the next couple hours,” while the lineup was uncertain.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa described Springer, forced from Monday’s game with a right side issue, as “probably a post-season Hall of Famer, so for him to go down that hurt, just because we have known the type of moments that he's capable of. But Ty France steps in and he's an all-star,” he added. “So as much as it hurts, we’ve got a lot of depth and we're going to rely on that this whole series. So, you know, as much as we would love to have George, we trust the next guy up.”
Just the way he and others said it, the Blue Jays once again lived it and the World Series is even once again, first to two victories wins.
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