Will the Blue Jays Finish Off the Dodgers?
Game 6 of the World Series on Friday at Rogers Centre will see a team with a chance to win the championship. Many are surprised that it is the Toronto Blue Jays, who will be at home, that are the ones with the 3-2 lead and an opportunity to wrap things up in front of the home crowd.
Despite having the home-field and crowd advantage, the Blue Jays are still the underdog when it comes to MLB odds. The Los Angeles Dodgers are -135 to keep their season alive and force a Game 7. Toronto, meanwhile, is +122.
The reason the Dodgers are the favorite if those who bet on the MLB are wondering, is because of their starting pitcher. This is a rematch of Game 2 of the World Series when Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers threw a complete game in a 5-1 victory.
The Blue Jays will counter with Kevin Gausman, who was no slouch in Game 2. He went 6⅔ innings and wound up tagged with three earned runs on four hits. He reached for home runs in the seventh inning by Will Smith and Max Muncy as LA broke a 1-1 tie.
MLB lines at BetUS have the totals set for 7½ runs. When these starters met in Game 2, the final was 5-1, so use that for research. The Dodgers scored four of those runs in the seventh and eighth innings. So, a repeat by the starting pitchers could make the Dodgers vs Blue Jays runs total odds going over a challenging proposition.
Where Have the Dodgers’ Bats Gone?
If one wants to look at a reason the Dodgers are in the pickle they find themselves in, it is simply because the Blue Jays’ pitching has tamed LA’s superstar-laden lineup. While striking out 12 over seven innings with help from a pair of relievers, Tres Yesavage and the Jays limited the Dodgers’ 1-4 hitters to a hit in 15 at-bats.
A repeat of that on Halloween by the Dodgers would lead to a nightmarish ending to the World Series. MLB odds for World Series prices have the Dodgers as +195 underdogs to win both games – if they can force a seventh – to win the World Series. For a team that was the favorite to repeat all season long, it is an unfamiliar role.
Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million contract in December of 2023. This is the kind of game the Dodgers paid all those bucks for. Yamamoto is 19-10 in 48 starts over two regular seasons. He is 5-1 in the postseason, the lone loss coming against the Phillies in the 2025 NLDS.
Overall, he has a 5-1 mark with a 2.47 ERA in 47.1 innings with 41 strikeouts. If the righty is on his game, Toronto will be challenged to get to him.
Jays Go with Gausman
The 34-year-old Gausman was actually drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 2010 MLB draft. He did not sign with them. He began his career with the Orioles and has played on five teams, Toronto being the most recent. Gausman is 48-41 in four seasons with the Jays.
He was 10-11 this year with a 3.59 ERA. Gausman is 2-2 in the 2025 postseason. Manager John Schneider believes that the righty will match Yamamoto pitch for pitch and hurl the Blue Jays to the World Championship.
What will happen on Friday will either make this a memorable Halloween for Torontonians or haunt them as they head into a Game 7 on Saturday. Should the World Series go that far, everyone will know they need to be ready.
The 2019 Washington Nationals managed to win the title by taking Games 6 and 7 at Houston against the Astros. Will the Dodgers be able to win Game 6, let alone the two possible remaining games North of the Border?
