LOS ANGELES — The 2025 World Series shifted to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night with the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers deadlocked at one win apiece, and Game 3 delivered the kind of drama that defines October baseball.
The two heavyweights traded blows from start to finish, with home runs, clutch hits, and lead changes marking a tense, high-stakes battle under the lights in Chavez Ravine.
The Dodgers wasted no time electrifying the home crowd. Teoscar Hernández opened the scoring with a solo blast in the second inning off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman. An inning later, Shohei Ohtani — already building a case for World Series MVP honors — crushed a towering solo shot to right-center to make it 2–0 Los Angeles.
But the Blue Jays responded with a big fourth inning. After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached base and Daulton Varsho singled, Alejandro Kirk turned on a hanging curveball from Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow and launched it into the left-field seats for a three-run home run. Moments later, Andrés Giménez lifted a sacrifice fly to score another run, capping a four-run frame that flipped the game to a 4–2 Toronto lead.
The Dodgers answered quickly. In the bottom of the fifth, Ohtani doubled into the right-field gap to score Mookie Betts, cutting the deficit to one. Freddie Freeman then lined a single through the right side, driving in Ohtani to tie the game at 4–4 as the stadium erupted.
Both teams tightened up defensively until the seventh inning, when Bo Bichette came through with a sharp single to left off reliever Ryan Brasier, scoring Whit Merrifield to put Toronto back in front, 5–4.
But as he had done all night, Ohtani responded for Los Angeles. Leading off the bottom of the seventh, he crushed his second home run of the game — a no-doubt shot to center field — knotting the score again at 5–5 and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
The bullpens settled in from there, with Jordan Romano and Brusdar Graterol trading zeros in the late innings. Both managers, John Schneider and Dave Roberts, appeared to manage as if every pitch could decide the game, pulling starters early and playing matchups with surgical precision.
As the night wore on, neither lineup could break through again, setting the stage for what could be a series-defining Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Through three games, the Fall Classic has lived up to its billing — a power-packed showdown between two of baseball’s most explosive teams, headlined by Ohtani’s two-way brilliance and Toronto’s relentless lineup depth.
The series remains tied, 1–1, with Game 3 hanging in the balance and momentum still very much up for grabs.
