The Dodgers entered this World Series unbeatable. They could be in big trouble. Gabe Lacques, USA TODAYOctober 25, 2025 at 4:10 AM 0 TORONTO — They began the night as close as any team in a quartercentury has come to repeating as World Series champions.
- - The Dodgers entered this World Series unbeatable. They could be in big trouble.
Gabe Lacques, USA TODAYOctober 25, 2025 at 4:10 AM
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TORONTO — They began the night as close as any team in a quarter-century has come to repeating as World Series champions.
Nine innings later, the shellshocked Los Angeles Dodgers weren't any closer to their goal – and suddenly realize how much difficult it will be to reach it.
Their ace stumbled. Their ad hoc bullpen, which hasn't stopped taking hits from injury and terrible performance and tragic circumstance, stumbled through a nine-run embarrassment of an inning. Their two-way superstar was mocked mercilessly by a fan base still annoyed he didn't choose them.
And by night's end, the Toronto Blue Jays' 11-4 victory was an undeniable reality check for a club that seemed indomitable.
And now may very much be in trouble.
They came into Game 1 of this World Series with nine wins in 10 playoff games this season, and a 20-6 postseason record the past two Octobers. They exited with a black eye administered by the Blue Jays' bats, who got ace Blake Snell on the ropes and didn't let him escape.
Freddie Freeman went 0-for-3 in Game 1.
Snell needed 100 pitches to get 15 outs, and left with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. And after a Blue Jays conga line of endless at-bats, bases-loaded walks, grand slams and wall-banging knocks were over, nine runs had crossed the plate.
And two of the relievers the Dodgers expected to hold the line – right-hander Emmet Sheehan and lefty Anthony Banda – had been battered.
It was Banda who made ignominious history, giving up the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history to Addison Barger, a left-on-left matchup that should have favored him but for a 2-1 slider that wasn't up and wasn't in enough - and then it was in the right field seats, giving Toronto a 9-2 lead and shaking old Rogers Centre to its core.
"They need to bounce back," manager Dave Roberts says of Banda and Sheehan, who created the mess by committing a pair of cardinal sins in the four batters he faced - issuing a walk and then giving up an RBI single to the No. 9 hitter.
"Anthony's been very good for us, left a breaking ball up. But, yeah, with the construct of the pen, we're going to need 'em, and so we got a long way to go, a lot of baseball, but they certainly got to make good pitches."
The Dodgers will be without top lefty Alex Vesia for the Series as he tends to a family emergency. Yet the dropoff from Vesia to Banda isn't massive: Banda entered Game 1 having faced 48 batters the past two postseasons, and retired 32 of them, yielding just one run.
But the Barger blast will be challenging to get past, as Banda joins the litany of Dodgers relievers - from big-ticket free agents like Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to veteran stalwart Blake Treinen - who will somehow have to wash this outing very quickly.
"You're just trying to find outs,' says Banda. "It's something that we just didn't do today as far as the bullpen.
"When we do, it's lights-out. It's as simple as that, build confidence in that. But tonight was just very bad."
Snell's night might not qualify as "very bad," perhaps only if compared to his recent work. He entered Game 1 with a 0.86 ERA through his three playoff starts, giving up just six hits and three runs in taming Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Milwaukee.
But this is Toronto. And Snell was far from indomitable.
"We know how good we are. They came out swinging and had a better game," says Snell, who walked three, hit a batter and gave up eight hits. "No excuses. There are no excuses.
"I need to be better. I need to throw strikes. I know I can do that. I need to find a way to be better."
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) warms up during batting practice before Game 1.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/5ch03Cy class=caas-img data-headline="Dodgers vs. Blue Jays: Best photos from Game 1 of 2025 World Series" data-caption="
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) warms up during batting practice before Game 1.
">Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) warms up during batting practice before Game 1.
" src=https://ift.tt/5ch03Cy class=caas-img>Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) looks on during batting practice before Game 1.
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Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) looks on during batting practice before Game 1.
">Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) looks on during batting practice before Game 1.
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1 / 6Dodgers vs. Blue Jays: Best photos from Game 1 of 2025 World SeriesThe Royal Mounted Police bring the flags onto the field prior to Game 1.
That won't be his problem until a potential Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. In Game 2, the onus is on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has rescued the Dodgers before and certainly can deliver them from the grim reality of a 2-0 Series deficit.
At the same time, these Blue Jays are a beast the Dodgers simply haven't seen this season.
"It's one game. Nothing we can do about it now. Just one game, keep moving," says shortstop Mookie Betts.
By the ninth inning, frisky Blue Jays fans mocked the great Shohei Ohtani with chants of "We don't need you!", a reference to their oh-so-close pursuit of the two-way superstar who ultimately signed with the Dodgers.
Ohtani got some measure of satisfaction, salvaging a two-strikeout night with a garbage time two-run homer.
Yet the Blue Jays fans were right. On this night, they didn't need Ohtani. And the Dodgers may soon need further intervention to keep this Series from slipping away.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers entered 2025 World Series unbeatable. They're in trouble
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