LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani may be October’s brightest star, a historical talent on a historical run, with exploits destined for baseball lore, but the post-season stage isn’t his alone. It also belongs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shane Bieber and the collective resilience of a Toronto Blue Jays team that continually absorbs vicious body blows, which would leave others reeling, only to emerge stronger than ever.
Their 6-2 victory the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 on Tuesday night before a crowd of 52,552 at Chavez Ravine became the latest and greatest example of their trademark determination. They left the laments and disappointment of the gutting 18-inning, 6-5 loss in Game 3 from the previous night, shook off the absence of catalyst and leader George Springer, who tried to swing after injuring his right side but couldn’t go, and interrupted the industry’s deifying of Ohtani by handling him on both sides of the ball.
In refusing to wilt, the Blue Jays evened a best-of-seven Fall Classic living up to its billing at two games apiece, with Trey Yesavage due to make his fifth post-season start, and first on the road, Wednesday night (Sportsnet, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT) against Blake Snell. They also guaranteed that the series will return to Toronto this weekend, where the 2025 championship will be won.
Guerrero, who like Ohtani is in the midst of an all-time October, delivered the key blow Tuesday, following Nathan Lukes’ leadoff single in the third inning by clubbing a hanging sweeper from Ohtani over the wall in left field, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
His seven home runs and 14 RBIs are both Blue Jays post-season records, and with Bo Bichette missing the first two rounds and playing at far less than 100 per cent, and Springer at different points battling injuries, he’s been a steady force driving his team forward.
That Guerrero is far from alone is a key feature of the 2025 Blue Jays and they once again needed a team effort to quell the mighty Dodgers, who seemed more drained by the grind of the previous night than their hosts.
Bieber, who began stretching in the bullpen Monday and was next in line had Game 3 reached a 19th inning, didn’t shy away from Ohtani leading off the first, walking him on a full count and then quickly escaping the inning unscathed.
He surrendered a run in the second when Max Muncy walked, Tommy Edman singled and Kiké Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly, but he limited the damage there, struck out Ohtani after Guerrero’s go-ahead home run in the third and then diced up the two-way star on three pitches in the fifth.
The first strikeout ended Ohtani’s run of 11 consecutive plate appearances reaching base, including the post-season record nine Monday, underlining what an achievement containing him was.
Crucially, Mason Fluharty took over from Bieber with two on and one out in the sixth, getting Muncy to fly out and Edman swinging, and the Blue Jays jumped Ohtani at the plate in the top of the seventh, when Daulton Varsho opened the inning with a walk and Ernie Clement followed with a double.
The Dodgers turned to Anthony Banda, who surrendered an RBI single to Andres Gimenez and a run-scoring groundout to Ty France, making it a 4-1 game, and after Guerrero was walked intentionally, Blake Treinen came on to surrender RBI singles to Bichette – on his best swing since returning – and Addison Barger.
Chris Bassitt, pitching on back-to-back days for the first since May 27-28, 2012 with high-A Winston-Salem, followed with two clean innings of relief and Louis Varland handled the ninth, allowing Edman’s run-scoring groundout, to help the bullpen reset from Monday.
Springer’s status, of course, remains a major question for the Blue Jays.
Before the game, manager John Schneider said Springer’s “MRI showed that he’s hour-to-hour, day-to-day, so just see how he kind of navigates the next couple hours,” while the lineup was uncertain.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa described Springer, forced from Monday’s game with a right side issue, as “probably a post-season Hall of Famer, so for him to go down that hurt, just because we have known the type of moments that he’s capable of. But Ty France steps in and he’s an all-star,” he added. “So as much as it hurts, we’ve got a lot of depth and we’re going to rely on that this whole series. So, you know, as much as we would love to have George, we trust the next guy up.”
He said it, the Blue Jays lived it and the World Series is now a best-of-three.
