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This year's championship series is going to a final Game 7 following the Los Angeles Dodgers kept alive their title defense hopes intact Friday night with a 3–1 win over the Blue Jays in Game 6.

The reigning title holders ended Toronto’s late-game comeback with a thrilling final double play, stunning a home crowd that had arrived prepared to cheer the city’s championship in over three decades.

Sixth Game Recap

Los Angeles generated all of their offense in the third frame. With two away, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith doubled to left field to bring home Tommy Edman. Freddie Freeman earned a base on balls to fill the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-run single to left, giving the Dodgers a 3–0 lead.

That key hit snapped a postseason slump and rekindled the title holders' hopes of being the initial back-to-back World Series winners since the New York Yankees won three consecutive from 1998 to 2000.

Pitching Duel

Gausman had been dominant to that point, fanning half a dozen of the first seven batters he faced. He struck out 8 through three innings, matching a World Series mark, but the third-inning barrage proved costly. The Toronto ace finished with 8 Ks over six innings, yielding three runs on three safeties and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was solid again under stress. The 27-year-old right-hander outpitched his counterpart for the second occasion in a week, giving up a single run on five base hits over six frames with six strikeouts. He improved to four wins and one loss this playoffs with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him resulted from George Springer two-out base hit in the third, driving in Addison Barger, who had doubled previously in the frame. Springer’s hit offered a momentary lift in his comeback to the starting nine after sitting out a pair of contests with an side strain.

Bullpen Effort

From there, the Dodgers’ bullpen took over. First-year pitcher Wrobleski got out of a jam in the seventh, and fellow rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth before hitting Alejandro Kirk to open the inning. Barger followed with a two-base hit that became wedged under the outfield wall, obliging runners to hold at second and third.

Glasnow, the Dodgers' third game starting pitcher, came on in a relief role and got a pop fly before Giménez lined to left. Hernández caught the ball and fired to second to double off the runner, sealing the victory and earning the pitcher his first career successful save.

Looking Ahead: Seventh Game

The series now boils down to one game. Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays, becoming the only living pitcher to start multiple seventh games of the World Series after doing so in the 2019 season with the Nationals. The 40-year-old signed a single-season contract to pursue another championship and has been a outspoken presence throughout this postseason.

The Dodgers, looking to be baseball’s first back-to-back title winners in nearly a quarter-century, are expected to lean on their two-way star for a short outing.