Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto has neutralized the Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the World Series.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani's exceptional talent and daunting presence in the box is causing problems for the Blue Jays.
Neither Guerrero nor Ohtani was the defining factor in the Blue Jays' 3-1 Game 6 loss to the Dodgers that forced the Fall Classic’s first winner-take-all Game 7 since 2019.
The two star sluggers each smacked a double, Ohtani was issued his post-season leading ninth intentional walk, and Guerrero worked a free pass in a key spot, but the way they achieved these results differed greatly.
Yamamoto flummoxed Guerrero along with the rest of the Blue Jays lineup, while, despite striking out Ohtani in the first inning, Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays exercised appropriate caution with the three-time MVP and were still unable to limit the damage.
Ohtani and Guerrero each led their teams in almost every major offensive category in October, including home runs, RBIs, walks and OPS. It stands to reason that they will factor in heavily as the baseball calendar turns to November for its final game.
Here is how the superstar duo's stats compare, both in Game 6 and in the World Series as a whole.
Their Game 6 stats:
Can't keep Ohtani down
When Kevin Gausman got Ohtani swinging through a splitter for strike three in the game's first at-bat, setting him down for an eighth straight plate appearance, it was the low point of the series for the two-way phenom.
But the Blue Jays still chose to show Ohtani four fingers when he next stepped to the dish in the third with a runner on second, and it backfired in the form of a two-out rally.
The rest of the Dodgers' top hitters — Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts — went double-walk-single to score their team's only three runs of the game.
And while the Blue Jays would likely make the same choice if faced with a similar situation again, the dilemma of pitching to Ohtani or not puts them between a rock and hard place.
The Blue Jays got away with intentionally walking Ohtani four consecutive times without him scoring a run in their 18-inning marathon Game 3 loss. But putting extra runners on base for a potent Dodgers lineup stuffed with all-stars and future Hall of Famers is also a dangerous game. Toronto will have to walk this tightrope one more time in Game 7.
Ohtani also poses a matchup problem. So far the Blue Jays' go-to relief option when dealing with the Japanese superstar has been rookie Mason Fluharty.
The two-pitch left-hander did strike out Ohtani in a record-setting save at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 10, and has set him down in their first three matchups overall through the regular and post-season. But the Blue Jays may have run out of bullets with Fluharty.
Hitters' numbers go up significantly the more they face the same reliever in a series in recent post-seasons as they gain familiarity with them. We've seen this effect play out as Ohtani has now doubled off Fluharty twice in a row. Even on a well-located sweeper at the knees, Ohtani was able to adjust and rip a 100 m.p.h. liner to left, albeit on an awkward swing.
The Blue Jays rookie has faced the Dodgers slugger three times in the series, more than any other Toronto relief arm. It's unlikely he sees Ohtani again.
Guerrero unable to solve Yamamoto
Guerrero has had an extraordinary post-season, setting the Blue Jays' all-time playoff home run record in a single month, tying for the second-most home runs in a single post-season, and entering play on Friday with a 255 wRC+, the best of any single Blue Jays playoff run and the sixth-best all-time (minimum 40 plate appearances).
But against Yamamoto he's looked ordinary. Guerrero has a .714 OPS against the right-hander compared to his 1.330 mark overall in October. Even his double in Game 6 dropped in after being struck at only 88.3 m.p.h.
The good news is that while anything is possible in a World Series deciding Game 7, Guerrero likely won't see Yamamoto again, and on the off chance he does, it certainly won't be multiple times.
Facing Roki Sasaki in the ninth, Guerrero was back to his usual, disciplined self, taking a walk to reach base as the tying run. Whether it's using his 90th percentile chase rate to run up opposing starters' pitch counts and draw walks or his elite raw power to drive balls out of the yard, Guerrero being at his best on Saturday could help the Blue Jays win their first World Series in 32 years.
Here are Guerrero and Ohtani's numbers for the full series:
