ODDS and EVENS | In the World Series, Toronto Rookie Trey Yesavage Makes His Mark

Before the 2025 World Series began, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage had made six MLB career starts, three in the regular season and three in the playoffs.

Now, after two starts in the Fall Classic, the 22-year-old rookie has elevated his status in baseball. He's not in the same stratosphere fame-wise as Shohei Ohtani. But he'll never be a forgotten player in Toronto or Los Angeles, either.

Yesavage worked four innings and got a no-decision in Game 1, which Toronto won 11-4 on October 24 at Rogers Centre.

A first-round draft pick in 2024, Yesavage was back on the mound in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. He held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run and three hits in seven innings while finishing with 12 strikeouts, a World Series rookie record, on Wednesday, October 29. The Blue Jays triumphed 6-1 to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Yesavage broke a World Series record that had stood since 1949, when Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers had 11 strikeouts against the New York Yankees in the opener.

"It's special. Being able to come into their house and do that is awesome," Yesavage said after the game on ESPN Radio.

He then said, "It's unbelievable to be in this moment."

From Single-A to World Series Success

Blue Jays teammate Bo Bichette is in awe of Yesavage's rapid rise to stardom.

"Obviously the stuff is incredible, but the maturity to go and handle these moments is unbelievable," Bichette was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. "I think he's ultra confident, but you never hear it in the clubhouse, which I think says something about him."

Yesavage, who didn't walk a batter in Game 5, advanced through the minor leagues, from Single-A to Triple-A in 2025, before a late-season callup to the big leagues in September.

The timing for his promotion was spot-on.

In five postseason starts, Yesavage is 3-1 with a 3.46 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 26 innings.

He now appears to be a player who'll become a part of the team's core for years to come.

World Series Returns to Canada

Game 6 is on Friday (Saturday morning JST) in Toronto, where the Blue Jays can capture their first World Series title since 1993. The Blue Jays' Kevin Gausman and the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the scheduled starters in a pitching rematch of Game 2.

To keep alive their title hopes, the Dodgers will need another banner performance from Yamamoto on Halloween night and hope that their offense awakens from its slumber.

Can Yamamoto pitch a third consecutive complete game in the playoffs?

If not, will the Dodgers' shaky bullpen find a way to stifle the red-hot Blue Jays?

"We've got to make some adjustments," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Game 5, according to The Associated Press.

Roberts added, "We've been in elimination games, a core group of these guys, and we've got to find a way to win a game. That's it."

A Big Spark for the Blue Jays

On Wednesday, in addition to Yesavage's sensational pitching performance, the Blue Jays had another truly noteworthy accomplishment. Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr smacked back-to-back home runs off Dodgers starter Blake Snell in the first inning.

Never before had a World Series game opened with consecutive homers. Unprecedented!

Guerrero has been tormenting opposing pitchers through the 2025 postseason. He's hitting .415 (27-for-65) with eight homers and 15 RBIs in the four rounds of the playoffs.

After Snell had made just three pitches, the Dodgers trailed 2-0. In other words, the Blue Jays seized momentum in less time than it takes to eat a chicken sandwich.

"It set the tone of the game," winning pitcher Yesavage said on ESPN Radio after Game 5 of his teammates' homers in the opening frame. "We came here to play, [and] we weren't going to back down no matter who's on the other side of the field. And we were just in control the entire time."

Shutting Down the Dodgers

Credit Yesavage for being a huge part of that dominant performance.

He got third strikes six times with a nasty split-finger fastball, and the other six came via a deceptive slider.

Furthermore, LA's Nos 1-4 hitters (Ohtani, Will Smith, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman) went a combined 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts.

It was a miserable night for the Dodgers on offense. Every hitter in LA's lineup struck out at least one time on Wednesday. The Dodgers wound up with 15 strikeouts, a total that spelled failure on the night.

Roberts shuffled the batting order a bit for Game 5. He moved Smith from fourth to second and Betts from second to third. Freeman dropped from third to fourth.

It didn't provide the spark that the Dodgers wanted.

They scored their only run on a Kike Hernandez solo homer in the third inning.

A Team Effort for the Blue Jays

Toronto, reminding me of the opportunistic and scrappy Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s, kept pounding away, slapping timely hits here and there.

On this night, the American League squad had nine total hits, with eight Blue Jays players chipping in with base knocks. Just a reminder: only three Dodgers got a hit. Kike Hernandez had two, while Teoscar Hernandez had one (a bunt), as did Smith.

The Blue Jays pulled ahead 3-1 in the fourth inning and extended their lead to 5-1 in the seventh. They scored their final run in the eighth.

For LA, a Poor Performance in Game 5

From start to finish, LA was not sharp in its final home game of the World Series.

Its lackluster performance included four wild pitches, three in the seventh inning. And as electrifying as Ohtani has been in the batter's box this postseason (eight homers, including two in Game 3), he was hitless for the second game in a row on Wednesday.

Freeman, the 2024 World Series MVP, is hoping he and his teammates produced better results in Game 6.

"We have faced so much adversity throughout the course of this year that we're ready for it," Freeman said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Hopefully, as an offense, we can bounce back and put up better at-bats and get going. Because that's who we are."