2025 ALCS Game 5, NLCS Game 4 storylines, what to watch

We spend the entire regular season obsessing over playoff seeding, in large part because home-field advantage is supposed to be such a big deal. And now here we are, seven games into the two League Championship Series, and the home teams are … 1-6.

It has led to a 2-2 deadlock in the ALCS, but it has also led to the very real possibility that the Dodgers, in front of their home fans, will clinch a spot in their second straight World Series, and their fifth in the past nine seasons, on Friday night. The Brewers had the best record in baseball during the regular season, though; youâ€ve got to think that shows up on the field at some point this series. Either way: Itâ€s very possible Friday is the last day with more than one baseball game until March.

Throughout this postseason, Iâ€ll be previewing the next dayâ€s action, game by game. Here is a storyline for each team from Fridayâ€s two LCS games.

Blue Jays: Is the offense fully back?

The Jays got blitzed in their first two games in Seattle, scoring just four runs in two games and leaving tens of thousands of Canadian fans unusually, and bewilderingly, silent. After Julio Rodríguez homered early in Game 3, you wondered if the Mariners were going to sweep this thing. And then Andrés Giménez hit a two-run homer leading to a five-run third inning, and then the Blue Jays scored the next three innings after that, and then in Game 4 they batted around again in the third, and suddenly … well, the Jays look like one of the best offenses in baseball again. And itâ€s coming from up and down the lineup.

Giménez, who hit seven homers all season, has now gone deep in back-to-back games for the first time since August 2022. And in Game 4, he combined with Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to go 7-for-14 with two doubles, a homer, a walk, four RBIs and four runs scored out of the 6-9 spots. But the real spark — and the thing that makes you feel like the Jays are going to keep this going — is the explosion from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is so hot right now you forget that he was thought to be struggling about 60 hours ago.

The Jays have pounded Mariners pitching and stunned their fans over the past two games at T-Mobile Park. If their hitters keep the pressure up, they could do it one more time and fly back to Toronto feeling unstoppable – and with a shot to lock up a trip to the World Series.

Mariners: Is Bryan Woo ready for this?

It was a little bit surprising that manager Dan Wilson decided to go with Miller to start Game 5. Miller was excellent (on short rest, no less) in Game 1, but he had a miserable regular season that was riddled with injury issues. Meanwhile, Woo was one of the better pitchers in baseball this year before being left off the ALDS roster as he worked his way back from right pectoral inflammation that has sidelined him since Sept. 19.

Wooâ€s inclusion on the ALCS roster was a sign that the Mariners are comfortable with his health, and the assumption by many was that Woo would slot back into the rotation. Instead, he will come out of the bullpen for the first time in his entire pro career. His team is certainly going to need him either way.

With the Mariners getting only 6 1/3 innings from their starters in the first two games in Seattle, Woo may be called upon to give some real bulk out of the bullpen, particularly if Miller isnâ€t as sharp as he was in Game 1. (Watch that third inning: Thatâ€s been the breakout frame for the Jays in both games of this series.) Woo hasnâ€t pitched in nearly a month, and now the 25-year-old will be thrust onto the biggest stage of his career. Seattle is counting on him to be ready.

Brewers: So now how are they supposed to score runs?
The Brewers, fair to say, have been having trouble scoring runs this series. They have only four extra-base hits. They have just nine hits total, three of them from Caleb Durbin. They have only one homer. Theyâ€re batting .101. A lot of that, most of that, is because of the Dodgers†pitching. L.A. is absolutely stacked and peaking, and healthy, at the right time.

But the Brewers have been bringing wet noodles to the plate for three games, and getting that offense on track just got harder after leadoff hitter Jackson Chourio — the guy who has that lone home run — aggravated his hamstring injury, though manager Pat Murphy sounded optimistic about his availability after Game 3. The worst part about this series for the Brewers is that, even though these three losses have come by just seven total runs, it has rarely felt like they have been in these games. Thatâ€s what happens when your offense is unable to even get off the launch pad.

The Brewers were a good offensive team this year, honestly, even if anyone just watching them for the first time now might not necessarily believe that. Those who have been watching them all year know that the offensive breakout should be coming at some point. But theyâ€re down 3-0. That “some point†is in danger of being “in 2026.â€

Dodgers: Will getting back on the mound get Shohei going?
It has been 12 days since Shohei Ohtani was the starting pitcher in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Phillies and gave up three runs in the second inning before settling down for a quality start that set up his team for a comeback victory. The Dodgers have won five of six since then, thanks largely to a series of incredible starting pitching performances, and they look like a team that is firing on all cylinders. Last yearâ€s Dodgers won the World Series and, right now, this team looks a lot better than that one did.

But one cylinder thatâ€s not currently firing is Ohtani the hitter. His struggles have been well-documented: After going 1-for-4 with a leadoff triple in Game 4, he is 3-for-29 in the NLDS and NLCS with that three-bagger his lone extra-base hit. Itâ€s his worst slump of the season, and heâ€s rattled enough by it that he took batting practice on the field at Dodger Stadium before Game 3, a very rare occurrence.

In this series, the Brewers havenâ€t scored enough to make the Dodgers miss Ohtaniâ€s bat. But L.A. will need more than that in a theoretical World Series, one that is now just one win away. Goal No. 1 for the Dodgers in Game 4 is to complete the sweep, but Goal No. 2 might be to get Ohtani into a good place – both at the plate and on the mound – going forward.

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