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MLB in brief: Mookie Betts goes down in the lineup | Magic Johnson plants the Angels

Mookie Betts drops out of the line-up

Dave Roberts promised changes. Will Smith will bat second and Betts hasn’t started a game this low in the order since 2021. Andy Pages is out.

Freddie Freeman knows the guys have to give more.

Magic Johnson stabs the Angels

Dodgers minority owner says Shohei Ohtani did nothing but lose for years in Anaheim.

Kyle Tucker before Cody Bellinger?

Is it the right thing to do in the Bronx?

The importance of game #5

When it’s 2-2 in the World Series, the winner of Game #5 has more than a two-in-three chance of winning it all.

The importance of Shane Bieber

Yesterday, he did his job.

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Shohei Ohtani prepares to launch relief by the end of the World Series

Major League Baseball’s 2025 season has two or three games left. Tonight, the Dodgers will play their final home game. Trey Yesavage will be on the mound for the Blue Jays, facing veteran Blake Snell.

On Friday, the World Series returns to Toronto… and if each team wins a game between now and then, there will be a Game #7 on Saturday night, at the Rogers Centre.

Kevin Gausman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Max Scherzer and Tyler Glasnow should be the starters. This means that Shane Bieber and Shohei Ohtani should have no more starts.

In Bieber’s case, we can therefore expect to see him available in relief starting Friday, if need be. And he’s ready.

Ohtani’s case is different. After all, his series is far from over, since he’s not just a pitcher. He’ll be used, every day, as the DH in the batting order.

And if yesterday’s game taught us anything, it’s that he has to lead the way.

But that doesn’t stop Nippon from being a good pitcher with a club that has problems in the bullpen. So it’s possible that the Dodgers will need him for games in Toronto, in relief.

And on this subject, Ohtani was clear: from now on, he says he’d be ready to step in as a reliever if needed.

Because Ohtani has to hit and he has to find time to warm up to enter a game, we agree that seeing him pitch will require special circumstances.

And if he doesn’t finish a game as a pitcher after coming on in relief, he’ll have to go play in the field to stay in the game.

I don’t get the feeling that this is Dave Roberts’ #1 game plan. That said, if his club’s season is on the line and they need to get three outs, Ohtani can (and should) be an option. After all, the guy’s good.

I don’t see him pitching today because he pitched yesterday and the Dodgers aren’t facing elimination. But in Toronto, we’ll have to watch.

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Cal Raleigh is player of the year, according to his peers

Who will win the American League MVP?

I have a feeling that Aaron Judge will win it. After all, he’s the toughest hitter in Major League Baseball. And if he wins, it certainly won’t be stolen.

But I’ve been saying it for weeks: because he’s a catcher who hit at a historic pace, Cal Raleigh is who I’d vote for, if I had a ballot in my hands.

And obviously, the players feel the same way. Cal Raleigh earned the honor in front of his peers when asked to vote for the regular-season Player of the Year via their Players’ Association.

I know it doesn’t carry the same weight as the MVP. But players know what they’re talking about, in the end.

Note that he also won, logically, the title of Most Outstanding Player in the American. And in the National, the players chose to vote for Kyle Schwarber.

So Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge (who are likely to win the MVP) were snubbed in favor of Schwarber and Raleigh. Interesting, though.

To me, it’s more a compliment to the two players who won than anything else. After all, Judge and Ohtani have an excellent reputation throughout the circuit.

Otherwise, among the notable honors voted by the players, Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are Pitcher of the Year. Drake Baldwin and Nick Kurtz are Rookie of the Year. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Jacob deGrom are the comebackers of the year.

These are more unanimous choices.

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Chris Bassitt saves the Blue Jays’ bullpen

Chris Bassitt is the guy who, with every pitch, looks like he’s at the end of his rope on the mound. He’s also the guy who can throw his teammates under the bus when things aren’t going his way.

But during the 2025 playoffs, he’s the guy who saved the Toronto Blue Jays’ poor relief bullpen.

Just yesterday, after increased use of their relievers in the 18 innings of Game Three of the World Series, the Blue Jays needed someone to take over after a strong start by Shane Bieber. And Bassitt answered the call, the 36-year-old blanking the Los Angeles Dodgers in the seventh and eighth innings of Game Four.

It was the first time Bassitt had pitched two days in a row since he was 23 and playing strong A’s for the Winston-Salem Dash.

The outing was his fifth appearance at the fall dance, and he has yet to allow a run to either the mighty Dodgers or Seattle Mariners in six and two-thirds innings of work.

In fact, Bassitt was so dominant in relief that only two of the 21 batters he faced ended up reaching the paths, and only three of those 21 duels ended in a three-ball count.

What’s more, eight of the eleven balls that landed in play had exit velocities of 83 miles per hour or less. That’s a long way from solid contact.

After an ordinary 2025 campaign, Bassitt has slowly worked his way into manager John Schneider’s circle of trust in these playoffs, and that will continue to be the case for the potential next three games.

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Blue Jays regain home-field advantage

The World Series is now tied 2-2. Last night, the Blue Jays (without George Springer) won Game #4 by a score of 6-2, which really felt good after Monday night’s 18-run loss.

Clearly, the Blue Jays were the better team, especially on the forward end via the famous big inning. Several position players were more rested and Shohei Ohtani was poorly protected offensively. Could this have made a difference?

Whatever the reasons, the Blue Jays find themselves in a position to bring the series back to Canada.

And since the regular season began in Japan, the 2025 campaign will have begun and ended elsewhere than on American soil for the first time in history.

All this to say that tonight, there’s a match in Los Angeles between Trey Yesavage and Blake Snell. But on Friday, it’s all Toronto. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell should be in the starting line-up.

And if there’s a game #7, it’ll be played on Saturday in Toronto. Tyler Glasnow and Max Scherzer should play.

Obviously, the Blue Jays will want to win tonight. However, we’ve seen that the Blue Jays play well at home, which is something to consider. They lost Game #5 in Seattle before winning the last two games of the series at home…

So basically, the Blue Jays regained home-field advantage in what becomes a 2-of-3.

At this point, both teams have a chance. After all, the Dodgers will be sending their two best pitchers to the mound over the next two games… and so will the Blue Jays.

That said, the Blue Jays have no Yoshinobu Yamamoto…

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World Series: Blue Jays tie with convincing win

After game #3 of the World Series, which was a crazy duel, the Blue Jays and Dodgers crossed swords tonight for duel #4. Shohei Ohtani and Shane Bieber were on the mound.

Ohtani started off strong. He got on base for the 11th time in a row with an early walk… and saw his club take a 1-0 lead.

But then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took matters into his own hands. He hit his first World Series homer of more than one base via a very big two-run home run against the Japanese.

With seven home runs, he holds the franchise record for most career home runs in the Series.

Then, the Blue Jays took control of the game. Shane Bieber gave way to Mason Fluharty, who did well in the bottom of the sixth. And in the top of the seventh, Shohei Ohtani gave up two hits before leaving.

But the L.A. reliever allowed both runs. Andres Gimenez and Ty France (batting for Nathan Lukes) produced one run each.

Bo Bichette and Addison Barger also joined the party, so the Blue Jays got a big inning: nine batters and four runs to make it 6-1 in the seventh.

Bichette’s presence as DH was good, even if the Blue Jays would have liked to see George Springer play.

In the end, the Blue Jays tied the series 2-2, 6-2. That leaves two or three games left in the series: tomorrow in Los Angeles, Friday in Toronto… and Saturday, if necessary, in Ontario.

Tomorrow, Trey Yesavage and Blake Snell will be on the mound. Expect Kevin Gausman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to pitch on Friday.

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MLB in brief: “I don’t think about other men in bed” | Red Sox finances

“I don’t think about other men in bed”

Mookie Betts didn’t dream about Shohei Ohtani or Freddie Freeman last night.

The importance of Alejandro Kirk

In the World Series, he’s on fire.

Red Sox finances

How will this be managed in 2026?

How do you manage 18 innings?

It was quite a challenge.

A documentary on Joe Torre

Interesting.

Quite a journey

There isn’t just one way to reach the Majors.

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George Springer not in starting lineup tonight

In the last few hours, John Schneider said he didn’t know whether George Springer would be able to play tonight’s game, which will be Duel #4 against the Dodgers in the World Series.

Was he bluffing or buying time? Who knows.

Since the Blue Jays were either planning to start him as DH or keep him on the bench, you’d think his injury wouldn’t be serious enough to end his streak right away and bring in an arm like Yariel Rodriguez, for example.

And finally, the Blue Jays announced that Springer would not be in the starting line-up. Even though he’s worked very hard to play, he won’t be able to start today’s game. We don’t know if he’ll be able to act as an alternate hitter, but it’s doubtful.

So the top of the lineup simply went up for the first three hitters and Addison Barger is the #4 hitter. Nathan Lukes, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette (who’ll get a chance to be tonight’s choice hitter) will be the first three hitters.

For the rest, there are no big surprises ahead of the L.A. game.

Of necessity, Shohei Ohtani and Shane Bieber (who have never pitched in the World Series) will be under pressure, considering that both teams’ relievers pitched quite a bit yesterday.

In Toronto, however, it’s worth noting that all relievers who aren’t Eric Lauer will be able to pitch tonight. We imagine it’s the same for the Dodgers, but with Will Klein.

PMLB
  • Intentional walk in the first inning for Shohei Ohtani: we don’t know yet.

  • George Springer is really magic.

  • It was a beautiful moment, watching Clayton Kershaw pitch.

  • If there had been a 19th inning and Yoshinobu Yamamoto hadn’t pitched, Miguel Rojas would have pitched.

  • Trey Yesavage will pitch tomorrow.

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Phantom runner in the playoffs: the team’s opinion

Yesterday’s game between the Blue Jays and Dodgers ended in the 18th inning.

Whose fault was it? Good relievers? To the hitters who left guys on base? John Schneider, who didn’t let Shohei Ohtani hit? To Brad Paisley, who always creates extra-inning games when he sings the national anthem?

Whatever the reason, we all agree it was a long game. Imagine without the dial…

We’re not used to that anymore because in the regular season, there’s the ghost runner who sets up at second base to start innings from the 10th.

But there’s a debate to be had: to keep people in the East from staying up too late in October, should the phantom runner apply in the playoffs too?

Here’s what the Passion MLB team thinks.

Maxime Trudeau: Yes, but only from the 12th inning on.

Félix Forget: No, because we’d lose the chance to have historic games like last night. Nathan Eovaldi and Will Klein have become legends in such games: they still have their place in the playoffs.

Sébastien Berrouard: Never in a hundred years. You can’t touch the integrity of the sport in the playoffs and then miss out on historic moments like yesterday’s.

Charles-Alexis Brisebois: I disagree. Like a hockey shootout, it’s only good for the season. The World Series shouldn’t be won on the basis of a runner who hasn’t earned the right to be in scoring position…

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The eight times match number three could have ended

Last night’s (Monday) game tied the record for the longest World Series duel. The mark had been set by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox in game number three of the 2018 Fall Classic, which the California outfit also won on a game-winning home run.

Yet this historic game could have ended well before the wee hours of the morning in Quebec. Here are eight occasions when the Toronto Blue Jays and Dodgers had a chance to end hostilities, starting with the top of the tenth inning, when Davis Schneider was retired at the plate.

Incidentally, a new video of the Blue Jays coach’s decision to send the mustachioed man to the plate makes the situation even worse. Ouch..

Then in the twelfth, Toronto threatened without ever getting the ball out of the infield, Alejandro Kirk got a base on balls to start the inning, followed by a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Myles Straw. Kirk then advanced to second on a roll by Ernie Clement, then Andres Gimenez received an intentional walk before Schneider hit a base hit to center field.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts then called on Clayton Kershaw from the reliever’s pen, who, with a full count, forced Nathan Lukes to hit a roller to end the threat.

A little later, it was the festival of the ball landing at the warning track or near the boundary post. Freddie Freeman hit one of these in the thirteenth inning, Will Smith did the same in the fourteenth, as did Max Muncy in the same inning, and finally Teoscar Hernandez in the sixteenth.

Then, in the 17th inning, Mookie Betts, who saw Shohei Ohtani get his fifth base on balls of the evening, had the opportunity to end the debate. After hitting a ball just off the line, he finally lifted a weak ball with a three-ball, two-strike count against Brendon Little.

Finally, in the top of the 18th inning, Will Klein allowed a walk to two batters and allowed them to advance to second and third base on a bad throw, but the Dreamer retired Tyler Heineman on strikes to quell the Jays’ prospects.

All this before Freddie Freeman decided he’d had enough.

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