2025 World Series - Toronto Blue Jays vs Los Angeles Dodgers

[Josh]

Far easier to be outclassed and swept than to lose a Game 7 in devastating fashion.....

[kevman]

It's that they were so close, again and again and again, and everytime it broke the Dodgers way. That's the hard part

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by kevman

It's that they were so close, again and again and again, and everytime it broke the Dodgers way. That's the hard part

I think that’s the issue though, the dodgers had way more star power on paper and in a game like baseball where a few individuals can swing the tide everything needs to go absolutely perfect for the jays. It almost did, but the dodgers, especially with yamomoto dealing like he was makes them very hard to beat. Then you add in their power potential which basically goes all the way to about number 6 or 7 in the lineup and you get what you saw yesterday. Close, tantalizingly close, but here we are.

[ben voyonsdonc]

I think many of us feel the same way about the team as Ernie does:

"The only thing I can think of right now is spending this last night with all the boys," an emotional Clement said. "I'm just going to miss them in the off-season. I couldn't wait to come to the field every day and just hang with everybody. I've been crying for probably an hour. I thought I was done with the tears, but I just love these guys so much. It was just so much fun coming to work every day and battling with these guys. We have so much to be proud of, even if it didn't go our way."

It was so much fun to spend the summer and fall watching these guys. I’ll miss it. Wild that our little Blue Jays season thread had over 10,000 posts this season. It was a lot of fun watching them and I definitely enjoyed spending time riding the highs (and lows) with you all.

A really special season.

[Scornfire]

Feel awful for Max, for Trey, for Ernie and for all the guys who got directed poorly by our 3rd base coach just like back in 15/16 and now have to bear that cross. Nobody expected them to compete this year, but once it became clear they *could* win it all, losing felt infinitely worse. Think we set the all time recors for runs scored in a postseason? Yet the only 100+ team to not win. Rough

[Burninator]

I am a Jays fan but I am very casual baseball fan. I've never gotten into baseball like I did for this post season. The wife and I would record the games and watch them after we put the kiddos to bed so we could catch every moment.

I really enjoyed at the strategy of the game. Managing the starters, the relivers, the batters, the batting order. The match up between the pitchers and the batters. It was very eye opening to me. Baseball never felt like this for me before.

The Jays truly had a feeling around them. Their head space as a team inspired confidence as a fan in them. You could never count them out of the game, they always seem to have that extra gear.

Baseball is stressful, so much of it is a 1 vs 1 game. Stress is just peaked with guys on base and a 3-2 count. It's not fluid in the same way hockey is (by far my most watched sport) it's so much about the moments and the build up to them.

I thought to myself "am I going to get into baseball"?" But having my guts ripped out by that loss probably changed my opinion. What a painful experience that was, ugh. I can't image how you die hard Jays fans are doing.

[EN FUEGO]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I can't image how you die hard Jays fans are doing.

About like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us_ru0-PClo

[Jiri Hrdina]

Bill Simmons calling it the most painful loss ever.
So that's a badge we can wear I guess.

[SuperMatt18]

It has to be - it really sucks how close they were and how much they were the better team.

Game 6: 1 for 9 with RISP

Bottom 8: 1 and 2nd 1 out - no runs
Bottom 9: 2nd and 3rd 0 outs - no runs

Game 7: 3 / 17 with RISP

Bottom 4: 1st and 2nd 1 out - Lukes / Vladdy can't generate a run
Bottom 6: Only getting one run with Gimenez on 2nd and no outs. Springer / Lukes / Vladdy cash in Gimenez.
Bottom 8: Lead off double for Clement. Gimenez, Springer, and Schneider can't even advance him.
Bottom 9: Bases loaded, 1 out. No runs
Bottom 11: Lead off double for Vlad, sac bunt, Kirk hits into DP.

So many chances to end the series and just couldn't find that killer play to end it. The bottom of the 9 is just an absolute killer. Feel so bad for all these guys because they deserved to win, they were the better team.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

It has to be - it really sucks how close they were and how much they were the better team.

Game 6: 1 for 9 with RISP

Bottom 8: 1 and 2nd 1 out - no runs
Bottom 9: 2nd and 3rd 0 outs - no runs

Game 7: 3 / 17 with RISP

Bottom 4: 1st and 2nd 1 out - Lukes / Vladdy can't generate a run
Bottom 6: Only getting one run with Gimenez on 2nd and no outs. Springer / Lukes / Vladdy cash in Gimenez.
Bottom 8: Lead off double for Clement. Gimenez, Springer, and Schneider can't even advance him.
Bottom 9: Bases loaded, 1 out. No runs
Bottom 11: Lead off double for Vlad, sac bunt, Kirk hits into DP.

So many chances to end the series and just couldn't find that killer play to end it. The bottom of the 9 is just an absolute killer. Feel so bad for all these guys because they deserved to win, they were the better team.

I agree with you that the Jays were better than the Dodgers at a lot of things, but what the Dodgers had that the Jays did not was experience. From their manager to the players that made impact plays at the end, they all had much more experience in those moments. They did not make the same errors on the basepaths, their manager played the right cards when it came to knowing when and when not to make tactical substitutions and they were able to hit in clutch situations where the Jays did not. The moment was too bright for various Jays players and their manager in many moments in game 6 and game 7. If you look at both dugouts in the late innings the Jays looked like a bundle of nerves starting with their manager and the Dodgers was calm and stoic. It was incredibly stressful to watch, I can only imagine as the manager, but do we think Dave Roberts instructs IKF to stay tight to 3rd with a lefty pull hitter at the plate? The jays needed the manager to be thinking and not freaking out in that moment. It was not IKF's fault in that situation but a lack of managerial experience. JS should have been screaming at IKF to get a bigger lead but I am afraid he was lost in the moment given he had never been in that moment before as manager.

We can play the hindsight game all we want but I really think this loss came down to lack of world series/playoff experience. We just have to hope this incredibly hard lesson will see them get over the hump in the future.

[troutman]

On a small sample size of 7 games I could see why one might think the Jays are better or deserved to win. I disagree (and I hate the Dodgers).

LA won three games in Toronto with an ice cold Betts. They were favoured to win every game of the series. LA left a $17 Million all-star off their playoff roster (Conforto). If these teams played 100 games, I think LA would win 55+ games.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

- 2x in Game 6 in the 9th
- 6x in Game 7 in the 9th
- 3x in Game 7 in the 10th
- 3x in Game 7 in the 11th

And a total of 0 runs scored. The more stats that come out for this loss, the crueller it's gonna seem.

add game 3. Take a way outside pitch for ball 4 with the bases loaded and the Jays win the series in a 5 game laugher. (and all those other runs they could have had in extras)

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by troutman

On a small sample size of 7 games I could see why one might think the Jays are better or deserved to win. I disagree (and I hate the Dodgers).

LA won three games in Toronto with an ice cold Betts. They were favoured to win every game of the series. LA left a $17 Million all-star off their playoff roster (Conforto). If these teams played 100 games, I think LA would win 55+ games.

Come on now...you aren't going to win any salary argument

Dodgers got the breaks, maybe they made them...probably a bit of both. There is no way they should have survived that 9th inning...Jays probability was up past 91%

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Bill Simmons calling it the most painful loss ever.
So that's a badge we can wear I guess.

The rational for this has to be the volume of opportunities they had to win, those 12 plate appearances with the winning run at the plate. Because their highest win probability in Game 7 was after Kike struck out in the 9th, but even that was only at 91.7%. For reference, the Falcons were above 98% probability for almost half of the 28-3 game. So in terms of likelihood of victory 28-3 is still worse by a fair amount.

[undercoverbrother]

I haven't watched that many ball games in a long time.

It was a fun run.

Shame they didn't win it.

[GirlySports]

when varsho was up win prob was only 83%. TEams know how to defend bases loaded 1 out

[browna]

As an outsider watching I am sure it looked basically since Game 4 that the Jays were in control, even in Game 6 when down.
No major blowups in the mound or in the field. Timely but unremarkable hitting, wearing down the Dodgers starters with patience. In Game 7, getting ahead and giving up singles and then solo home runs, while on offense crowding the bases, getting again to revered Dodger pitching. And then just sputtering. Twice. Leaving the Dodgers enough time to get one of their highly paid guys to guess right on a pitch or two, finally.

That’s what probably makes it the most painful. It was literally snatched away from the better team through an unprecedented combination of circumstance and plays that statistically and visually, seemed well in their favour.

But it also wasn’t a cliched choke job.

As a Seahawks fan it was very reminiscent to the SB loss vs the Pats. Played well all game, looked in control, got behind for a bit but then rolled the last drive and everyone watching and both sidelines were bracing for the Seattle win, until it was snatched away.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

when varsho was up win prob was only 83%. TEams know how to defend bases loaded 1 out

Maybe, its was the error in base running that got them out of it though...that play at the plate should have been the series. Like take two more steps and be ready to run on each pitch.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Saturday's World Series finale was the most-watched Rogers broadcast ever, with an average audience of 10.9 million viewers.

Over 18.5 million Canadians, nearly 45 per cent of the country's population, watched some or all of Game 7, peaking at 14 million around midnight when Ernie Clement came to bat with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The thrilling end to a month-long journey also stands as the most-watched English-language broadcast on record in Canada besides the 2010 Winter Olympics.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article...roadcast-ever/

[Whynotnow]

Lots of could ofs and should ofs. If Bo doesn’t get sent and then make a brutally awkward slide into home and get injured on a rainy day in August against the Yankees, and he’s healthy all the way, that might be the difference in this series. We will never, ever know.

It may have been one of the greatest series and games of all time, I still can’t bear to watch a single second of replays, celebrating or interviews.