World Series 2025: Shane Bieber comes through as stabilizing force for Blue Jays in Game 4, helping Toronto tie the series vs. L.A.
- - World Series 2025: Shane Bieber comes through as stabilizing force for Blue Jays in Game 4, helping Toronto tie the series vs. L.A.
Jordan Shusterman October 29, 2025 at 3:04 AM
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LOS ANGELES — On the heels of an exhausting Game 3 that expended virtually their entire roster and ended in heartbreaking fashion, the Toronto Blue Jays were in dire need of a stabilizing force on the mound Tuesday as they sought to draw even in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Enter Shane Bieber, the perfect pitcher for the job.
Bieber does not thrive on outward ferocity and exuberant intensity like his rotation mate Max Scherzer. Nor does he wield the kind of stuff that jumps off the television screen or the Baseball Savant page like splitter specialists Kevin Gausman and rookie Trey Yesavage. Instead, Bieber is a calculated craftsman, deploying his five-pitch mix with thoughtful intent and relying on intelligent sequencing and location to compensate for below-average velocity. At his best, Bieber navigates opposing lineups with patience and precision, providing the kind of steadiness that can put his manager at ease.
It is this calming presence that made Bieber the ideal starter for Toronto to turn to in a pivotal Game 4, though that plan was nearly jeopardized when the chaos of Game 3 came dangerously close to dragging Bieber into the fray. A last-resort option had the game extended beyond 18 innings, Bieber was seen getting loose in the bullpen late Monday in case an emergency appearance was required.
"I was definitely amped up," Bieber said Tuesday of preparing to enter Game 3 in relief. "You have to get yourself ready to pitch in the 19th inning of a World Series game marathon, and potentially, I was thinking about my first big-league save, and in the World Series — that would have been very cool.
"But I'm very happy with how things worked out."
Here's how things worked out: Bieber delivered 5 ⅓ innings of one-run ball in a 6-2 Jays victory in Game 4, earning the win in his World Series debut and paving the way for Toronto to tie the World Series at two games apiece.
"It didn't impact him whatsoever," manager John Schneider said when asked whether Bieber's venture to the bullpen the previous night altered his preparation for Game 4. "He came in focused. He came in like a veteran pitcher should."
Bieber's most obvious obstacle entering Game 4 was the unique challenge of outperforming two different versions of the same player. He was tasked with matching Dodgers starting pitcher and two-way superhero Shohei Ohtani's efforts on the mound while also taming Ohtani's monumentally dangerous bat following a historic performance at the plate in Game 3. Despite that daunting prospect, Bieber eventually emerged triumphant on both fronts.
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The first inning did not spark early optimism for Toronto. Ohtani struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on three pitches in a scoreless top half before making the quick commute to the batter's box in search of some run support for himself. With Ohtani's four extra-base hits followed by five consecutive walks to finish Game 3 fresh in everyone's mind, no one was especially surprised when Bieber's first three pitches sailed nowhere near the strike zone. Bieber then found two strikes to bring the count full, but his sixth offering — a changeup that might've caught the outside edge of the strike zone, though not quite enough to convince home plate umpire John Tumpane — ensured another free pass for Ohtani.
But that was the last time Ohtani would reach base in Game 4. Bieber worked around the leadoff walk to post a scoreless first, and after surrendering an early Dodgers lead on a Kiké Hernández sacrifice fly in the second, he cruised through the next three frames unscathed.
"I thought he settled into the game really well," Schneider said of his starting pitcher. "After the run, I thought he kind of got a little bit better with his breaking stuff, and he made pitches, man. It was fun to watch him navigate that. I'm really happy for him for the last year-and-a-half journey he's been on. To go out there and do that, that was awesome."
Shane Bieber held it down on the #WorldSeries stage 🔥5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K pic.twitter.com/RRzvoTKBk4
— MLB (@MLB) October 29, 2025
Just 18 months removed from elbow surgery, Bieber is still figuring out how to utilize his arsenal in its current form, making each outing a session of self-discovery, even as the stakes continue to rise. On Tuesday, it was Bieber's cutter that emerged as the go-to weapon once he realized his slider — his most effective swing-and-miss offering all season — didn't feel quite right.
"I thought I used it really well tonight," Bieber said afterward of his cutter, which accounted for a season-high 27% of his total pitches. "I think that came in lieu of not having a great slider tonight and kind of yanking and opening up early, and they weren't chasing, and so I had to rely on something else. I think that's the benefit of being able to command five pitches, for the most part, and you figure out pretty quickly what's working, what's not."
Bieber's second encounter with Ohtani came in the bottom of the third, this time with a lead afforded by Guerrero's two-run home run in the top of the frame. On a 2-2 count, Bieber landed a perfect changeup on the outer half — virtually identical to the pitch on which Ohtani had drawn ball four in the first — and Ohtani swung haplessly for strike three.
Their third and final showdown came in the fifth, still with a narrow one-run Toronto lead and with the bases empty, enabling Bieber, in a groove at that point, to attack Ohtani with his stuff. That meant a sharp-breaking knuckle-curve at the bottom of the zone for strike one via foul ball, another foul ball on a high heater and then another knuckle-curve pinpointed brilliantly on the outer edge of the zone. That left Ohtani frozen, staring at a surprise strike three.
Ohtani later grounded out against reliever Chris Bassitt to end his night, marking his first hitless game since NLCS Game 1.
While Bieber ultimately did not quite record as many outs on the mound (16) as Ohtani did (18), his final line ended up notably cleaner. Beyond Bieber's own work keeping the Dodgers' offense at bay, his bullpen backed him up far more effectively than what the Dodgers' superstar received. Bieber's night came to an end in the sixth inning, after Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez laced singles to put the go-ahead run on base with one out, prompting Schneider to turn to left-hander Mason Fluharty to handle lefty slugger Max Muncy.
Fluharty did just that, coaxing a harmless flyout from Muncy and striking out Tommy Edman to end the threat. Conversely, when Ohtani departed after allowing two hits to lead off the seventh, both baserunners eventually came around to score with Anthony Banda on the mound. And before the inning was over, two additional runs crossed the plate due to more shoddy work from Blake Treinen.
"These are the spots that we acquired him for," Schneider said of Bieber, still just months into his tenure as a Blue Jay after arriving via trade from Cleveland before the July 31 deadline. "And it's asking a lot of him, based on what he's been through with the recovery from the surgery and stuff. But he's enjoying it, and he's embracing it, and he's been a huge part of us getting here."
Through four games, this year's World Series has given us two Toronto wins featuring comprehensive contributions from up and down the roster and two Los Angeles victories headlined by historic efforts from a select few individual superstars. Which recipe for success will yield a champion remains to be seen, but we're now guaranteed to see the action return north of the border regardless of Wednesday's Game 5 result.
And for Bieber and the Blue Jays, a franchise he has quickly embraced in his short time on the roster, the opportunity to play at least one more home game at Rogers Centre is not taken lightly.
"They deserve it," Bieber said of the nation of fans backing the Blue Jays' efforts to win their first championship in 32 years. "To end it on our terms and in Toronto — I'm excited for that opportunity."
Source: "AOL Sports"
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