Yamamoto’s Gem Flips the Series

Table of Contents

• 🔥 FIRST PITCH — Game Two

• 🟢 THE GOOD — Yoshinobu Yamamoto

• 🧨 THE BAD — Springer and The Ghosts of 2017

• 🔴 THE UGLY — New Manager, Same Circus in Anaheim

• 🚙 ONE FOR THE ROAD — Closer to Her

🔥 FIRST PITCH — Game Two

Happy Sunday. Dodger-Nation can exhale again.

After Friday night’s meltdown, Yoshinobu Yamamoto walked in and slammed the brakes on the panic — a complete-game gem in a 5–1 win that restored order and dragged this series back to even.

The breakthrough came in the 7th, when Will Smith and Max Muncy both went deep, ripping the momentum away from Toronto. From there, it was all Yamamoto — retiring the final 20 batters.

Just like that, the series is tied 1–1 and heading to L.A.

The Dodgers are three wins from another title. Cue the outrage.

For weeks, fans have whined that L.A. “bought” their way into October and are “ruining baseball.”

Dave Roberts had fun with it:

“Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball.”

So be it. Villains it is.

L.A. has embraced life as baseball’s new Evil Empire — a crown once proudly worn by the Yankees. But that swagger is gone. The Yankees aren’t the bully anymore.

The Dodgers are.

Next stop: Chavez Ravine. Games 3, 4, and 5 in Los Angeles.

💥🎤 Blue Jays 1. Evil Empire 1.

🟢 THE GOOD — Yoshinobu Yamamoto

With the Dodgers staring at an 0–2 hole, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound Saturday night and shut the door. He was simply brilliant.

Yamamoto is quickly becoming one of baseball’s true big-game pitchers. In an era when starters rarely go nine, the Japanese right-hander tossed his second straight complete playoff game.

Since signing that massive $325 million deal, Yamamoto has delivered exactly what L.A. paid for: an All-Star, an ace, and money pitcher.

And he did it against one of the top-hitting teams in the sport. How dominant was he? After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled in the third, Toronto never reached base again. Yamamoto retired the final 20 hitters — a clinic in command, poise, and pure edge when the Dodgers needed it most.

Big moment, big stage — and Yamamoto owned every inch of it.

🧨 THE BAD — Springer and The Ghosts of 2017

George Springer is back on the World Series stage — and for Dodgers fans, that rips open an old scar. Eight years later, the sting of 2017 hasn’t faded. The Astros’ banging scheme didn’t just decode pitches — it hijacked a championship, and no amount of move on has ever landed in Los Angeles.

Springer wasn’t just part of it — he was the 2017 World Series MVP, homering in Games 5 and 7. Dodgers players still point to that 13–12 marathon in Houston — the night everything tilted, the night it all felt … wrong.

Two years later, the world found out why: center-field cameras. Decoded signs. Trash-can bangs. A cheating operation MLB eventually confirmed.

The owner was fined.
The GM and manager were suspended — then fired.
The players? They kept the rings.

And that’s what L.A. has never forgiven.

Yes, the Dodgers have banners from 2020 and 2024. But 2017 is the one that still bleeds. Now Springer’s back in October with another shot at glory, and now that the series shifts to L.A., he’s going to hear it.

🔴 THE UGLY — New Manager, Same Circus in Anaheim

For a franchise that’s burned through six managers in eight years — and hasn’t posted a winning season since Obama was in office — you’d think they’d finally try something bold. Stable. Visionary. You know… an actual plan.

Instead?

The Los Angeles Angels handed the job to Kurt Suzuki on a one-year deal — a rookie manager with zero experience running a big-league clubhouse. One. Year.

Nothing screams “You’re our future!” like a contract that expires faster than a Disneyland churro. This is the same organization that watched Shohei Ohtani walk out the door — and now they’re backing their new skipper with all the confidence of a free 30-day trial.

Hard to sell a “new era” when your own deal expires before the ink dries.

Check back in 11 months — odds are we’ll be writing the same story, just with a different name on the office door.

Hope is eternal.
In Anaheim, managers are not.

🚙 ONE FOR THE ROAD — Closer to Her

Freddie Freeman has played on baseball’s biggest stages — playoffs, World Series, unforgettable October nights. But this one feels different.

The Dodgers are in Toronto, and Canada tugs at something deeper for Freeman. Both of his parents were born and raised in Ontario. His mother, Rosemary, passed away when he was just 10 years old — and Canada is where her memory still feels loudest. Hockey nights. The anthem. The little things that never fade.

“I think that’s why coming back here is so special for me. It just makes me feel like I’m closer to my mom.”

Freeman may have grown up in California, but Toronto is the place that reconnects him to what he lost. This World Series isn’t just about rings and résumés — it’s about love, grief, and the echoes of home.

“I only got 10 years with her, and only about four years of memories. Those are the little ones I cherish, and it always seemed to be around Canadian things.”

Baseball gives us heroes.
But sometimes, it gives us a way back.

As Freeman chases another World Series, he’s also chasing something more enduring: connection.