All season long, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been able to score wins thanks to some solid starting pitching along with key hits. That's a pretty good recipe for a team looking to repeat as World Series champions.

But the one area that has caused trouble is the bullpen. It's been the one area in which long-term success has been missing.

On Friday night, in Game 1 of the 2025 World Series, the Dodgers were not able to get help out of their relievers. Starter Blake Snell, to be fair, was not at his best as the Blue Jays rocked Los Angeles 11-4 to take the first game in the best-of-seven series.

The Dodgers and Blue Jays kept things tight going into the bottom of the sixth inning at Rogers Centre, tied at 2-2. Then the wheels came off for Snell, who was taken out in favor of Dodgers reliever Emmet Sheehan.

That move didn't work out. Roberts came on out and exchanged Sheehan for Anthony Banda. They brought Banda in to face Blue Jays pinch-hitter Addison Barger with the bases loaded. What did Banda do? Throw a fat pitch that Banda didn't miss for the first pinch-hit grand slam home run in World Series history.

At that point, it was Blue Jays 9-2 and that was game, set, match for Game 1.

The Dodgers entered the 2025 World Series coming off of a bit of a layoff after sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. Did the layoff hurt Los Angeles? After the game, Dodgers players were not making excuses.

"I felt good going into the game," Sheehan, who hadn't pitched in a game in two weeks, told the Los Angeles Times. "I felt the same as I have been. I thought I made some good pitches, and they made some really good swings. It’s not a good feeling."

Reliever Will Klein, who came on later in the game, brought up the possibility of actually feeling pretty good going into a key ballgame.

"You don’t want to feel too good," Klein told the Times after the game. "You feel too good, you try to throw too hard because you feel good. And it doesn’t go where you want it. [The ball] doesn’t go where you want it to because you’re used to pitching a little down, like 90 or 95%. You’re never really at 100. There’s such a thing [as] too fresh."

At this point, the Dodgers are in a tight spot. They cannot afford to go back to Dodger Stadium down two games to the Blue Jays.

On Saturday night, Los Angeles sends Yoshinobu Yamamoto out against Toronto's Kevin Gausman in Game 2 of the 2025 World Series. Roberts can only hope Yamamoto comes out firing strikes and keeps Blue Jays hitters on their heels.

It also needs to be noted that both teams used a few arms out of their bullpens on Friday night. The results, though, speak for themselves. The Dodgers didn't get the job done with its bunch of relievers.

Should Saturday night's game get out of hand, and the Los Angeles bullpen cannot keep the game close, then it's going to be a long flight back home to the West Coast.

Game 2 of the 2025 World Series starts at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and the game will be televised by Fox. Dodgers and Blue Jays fans can hear their home team radio calls on SiriusXM and ESPN Radio will have their team of broadcasters calling the game, too.

Our Dodgers Roundtable and Blue Jays Roundtable sites will have live coverage during the game. Please go create an account on here and join the conversation.