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The championship series is headed to a decisive Game 7 following the Los Angeles Dodgers kept their title defense dreams intact on Friday with a three to one victory over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions halted Toronto’s ninth-inning rally with a thrilling final double play, stunning a home audience that had arrived prepared to celebrate the city’s first title in over three decades.

Game 6 Summary

The Dodgers generated all of their scoring in the third frame. With two away, Shohei Ohtani was purposely passed before Smith hit a two-bagger to left field to bring home Edman. Freddie Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a 3–0 advantage.

Betts’ hit broke a postseason slump and rekindled the defending champions’ aspirations of becoming the initial back-to-back championship winners since the Yankees captured three straight from 1998 through 2000.

Mound Duel

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that stage, striking out half a dozen of the first seven batters he faced. He struck out 8 through three innings, tying a Fall Classic mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace ended with eight strikeouts over six innings, yielding three runs on three hits and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in contrast, was solid again under stress. The 27-year-old right-hander outpitched his counterpart for the second occasion in a seven days, allowing a single run on five base hits over six frames with six Ks. He boosted his record to 4–1 this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him resulted from George Springer two-out single in the third, scoring Addison Barger, who had hit a double previously in the frame. That single offered a brief spark in his return to the starting nine after missing a pair of contests with an side strain.

Bullpen Effort

After that, the Dodgers’ bullpen carried the load. Rookie Justin Wrobleski got out of a jam in the seventh inning, and another rookie Sasaki pitched into the ninth before hitting Kirk to start the inning. Barger followed with a two-base hit that got stuck under the left-center-field fence, forcing base runners to stay at second and third.

Glasnow, Los Angeles’ third game starter, came on in a relief role and induced a pop fly before Andrés Giménez hit a line drive to left. Enrique Hernández caught the ball and threw to second base to double off the runner, sealing the win and earning Glasnow his first-ever save.

Looking Ahead: Game 7

The series now comes down to one game. Max Scherzer will start for Toronto, becoming the only living pitcher to pitch in multiple seventh games of the World Series after doing so in 2019 with the Nationals. The veteran signed a single-season contract to chase one more title and has been a vocal leader throughout this playoff run.

The Dodgers, aiming to be baseball’s initial repeat title winners in almost 25 years, are projected to lean on Shohei Ohtani for a short outing.