Visions of Kike's throw to second and Rojas' pick of it were dancing in Dodgers fans heads overnight. Now? It's time for Game 7 against Blue Jays.
If some wise man or woman had told Los Angeles Dodgers fans that their favorite team would be playing in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series on November 1st, they might have asked if you were drinking or if you'd been smoking a doobie.
On top of that, it was pitching and defense - two areas that haven't served the Dodgers too well at times all season long - in Game 6 on Friday night that helped secure the victory. Let's not forget about shortstop Mookie Betts, whose two-run single in the third inning was a big, big play.
The Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1, bringing all of the MLB (and sports) world to this point - Game 7, baby.
Los Angeles is going to go with Shohei Ohtani on the mound against Toronto's own "Mad Max" himself, Max Scherzer. Now Scherzer has previous Game 7 experience, having pitched in the last deciding Game 7 in the World Series. When was that? Way back in 2019 when the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros at then-Minute Maid Park to win the 2019 World Series title.
In Game 6, Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto went six innings and picked up the victory. But he had Justin Wrobleski, Roki Sasaki, and Tyler Glasnow pitch one inning of relief each. Between all three of those relievers, they only gave up three hits while walking one and striking out two.
Glasnow's ninth-inning effort will go down in the World Series history books.
But Dodgers center fielder Justin Dean deserves a tip of the cap, too. Dean came on for defensive help in place of Tommy Edman. Let's lay out how that bottom of the ninth played out. With Sasaki looking to close it out, he hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch. Addison Barger then hit a ground-rule double to left-center field.
Barger's hit lodged the ball at the bottom of the outfield wall. As soon as Dean saw what happened, he immediately raised his hands in the air, letting the umpires know something was up out there. Left fielder Kiké Hernández, who would have a hand in a great play coming up, also raised his hands, too.
"As the rule is current, you want to play that ball, actually, and you can go back and replay the lodged ball," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game, according to MLB.com. "But [Dean] still was aware of it being lodged, and then the outfield umpire kind of blew it dead as well. So it worked out great, but certainly good awareness [by Dean]."
Myles Straw, who was pinch-running for Kirk, already was near home plate when the umpires stopped the game. After an umpires review to confirm their call in Toronto, the ball was ruled as lodged in the wall and was, therefore, a dead-ball situation. Straw was sent back to third and Barger was awarded second base.
That was it for Sasaki and Glasnow came on in the game. On Glasnow's first pitch, he got Ernie Clement to pop out to first. Then things went off the rails for the Blue Jays, but were totally fine for Dodger Blue.
Andrés Giménez was at the plate and hit a solid line drive to Hernández in left. Once he caught the ball, Hernández immediately threw to second base. Second baseman Miguel Rojas had his left foot on second base and Barger, in one of the dumbest base-running blunders in Series history, was doubled off second.
Ballgame. That was it.
Now we have a Game 7. The entire country of Canada will be watching, having to make a difficult choice between the Blue Jays and their regular "Hockey Night in Canada" broadcast. In Los Angeles? Cocktail hour at 5 p.m. Pacific time will have a baseball flavor to it.
What more could you ask for as a baseball fan. The Los Angeles Dodgers, with the richest payroll in the majors, are nine innings away from repeating as World Series champions. The Toronto Blue Jays are nine innings away from bringing The Commissioner's Trophy back to the Great White North.
It's going to be a Saturday night that these teams' fans will never, ever forget.