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This year's championship series is going to a final seventh game following the Los Angeles Dodgers kept their title defense dreams intact on Friday with a 3–1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions halted Toronto’s ninth-inning rally with a dramatic game-ending double play, stunning a home audience that had arrived prepared to cheer the team's first title in over three decades.

Game 6 Summary

Los Angeles generated all of their offense in the third inning. With two away, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Smith hit a two-bagger to left to bring home Tommy Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Betts came through with a two-run single to the opposite field, giving the Dodgers a three-run lead.

Betts’ hit snapped a postseason slump and revived the defending champions’ aspirations of becoming the initial back-to-back championship winners since the Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 to 2000.

Mound Battle

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that point, fanning six of the initial seven Dodgers he faced. He struck out eight through three frames, matching a Fall Classic record, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace finished with 8 Ks over six frames, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in contrast, was solid again under pressure. The 27-year-old right-hander outdueled his counterpart for the second time in a week, giving up one run on five hits over six innings with six Ks. He boosted his record to four wins and one loss this playoffs with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him resulted from Springer’s two-out single in the third, driving in Addison Barger, who had hit a double earlier in the inning. Springer’s hit offered a brief spark in his comeback to the lineup after sitting out two games with an side strain.

Bullpen Heroics

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. Rookie Justin Wrobleski escaped a jam in the seventh, and fellow rookie Sasaki pitched into the ninth inning before hitting Alejandro Kirk to start the inning. Barger followed with a double that got stuck under the outfield wall, obliging base runners to hold at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles’ third game starter, entered in a relief role and got a popout before Andrés Giménez hit a line drive to left. Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to double off the runner, sealing the win and giving Glasnow his first career successful save.

Looking Ahead: Seventh Game

The best-of-seven now comes down to one game. Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, making him the only living pitcher to pitch in multiple seventh games of the World Series after doing so in the 2019 season with the Nationals. The 40-year-old inked a one-year deal to pursue another championship and has been a outspoken presence throughout this playoff run.

The Los Angeles squad, aiming to be baseball’s first back-to-back champions in nearly a quarter-century, are projected to rely on their two-way star for a brief appearance.