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The Los Angeles Dodgers are well on their way to a second, consecutive World Series title after a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series and will almost certainly open as favorites to win the Commissioner’s Trophy, regardless of whether they play Seattle or Toronto.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the team will not be silent this offseason, with the Dodgers expected to target Kyle Tucker.

The third baseman missed time due to injury but still hit .266 and accumulated 133 hits, 22 home runs, and 73 RBI, so it is easy to see why the franchise would be interested in adding him to their lineup.

The team possesses an option on Max Muncy’s contract, and should they choose not to pick it up, they would need a new third baseman, making the potential for Tucker’s arrival in the City of Angels even greater.

There is something to be said about chemistry, though, and its role in the Dodgers’ second World Series trip.

The roster in 2025 is nearly identical to that of the 2024 championship squad. The extent to which manager Dave Roberts knows his players and how to utilize them to get the desired outcome.

The players know each other’s tendencies and skill sets. Potentially replacing Muncy to bring in Tucker, while it would be an upgrade offensively on paper, may disrupt the chemistry the team has at this point and threaten to derail the closest thing to a dynasty MLB has had since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.

For that reason, while it is mighty appealing to add another superstar player to a lineup full of them, it is best not to toy with a good thing.

Especially if the 2025 squad is able to become the first repeat champions since those same Yankees.

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Oct 18, 2025, 09:15 AM ET

Shohei Ohtani put the exclamation point of exclamation points on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, striking out 10 in six shutout innings on the mound and blasting three home runs at the plate in Friday’s Game 4.

The Dodgers will face the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.

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The Mariners, behind a game-tying solo home run from Cal Raleigh and a grand slam by Eugenio Suarez slam during a five-run eighth inning, knocked off the Blue Jays in Game 5 on Friday to take a 3-2 lead in the ALCS. It was the first win by the home team in the series.

Game 6 is Sunday in Toronto. The Blue Jays would host a Game 7 on Monday if they can extend the series.

For more on the MLB playoffs, check out live MLB playoff analysis and updates, as well as each team’s odds to win the World Series.

Odds as of publish time. For more, visit ESPN BET Sportsbook.

Cal Raleigh’s fourth home run of the playoffs evened the score in Friday’s Game 5. Steph Chambers/Getty Images

ALCS

Seattle Mariners vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Game 6: Sunday, 8:03 p.m. ET (FS1)

• Starters: TBD vs. Trey Yesavage

• Money line: Blue Jays -125, Mariners +105

• Spread: Blue Jays -1.5 (+170), Mariners +1.5 (-215)

• Run total: 7.5 (Over -105, Under -115)

Game 7*: Monday, 8:08 p.m. ET (FOX/FS1)
*If necessary

Game 1: Mariners 3, Blue Jays 1
Game 2: Mariners 10, Blue Jays 3
Game 3:Blue Jays 13, Mariners 4
Game 4: Blue Jays 8, Mariners 2
Game 5: Mariners 6, Blue Jays 2

NLCS

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers

Dodgers win series, 4-0

Game 1: Dodgers 2, Brewers 1
Game 2: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Game 3: Dodgers 3, Brewers 1
Game 4: Dodgers, 5, Brewers 1

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BBC

A large crowd gathered for the players’ funeral on Saturday

Afghanistan will no longer take part in an upcoming cricket series after it says three players in a local tournament were killed in an air strike.

The Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) said it would withdraw from November’s tri-nation T20 series out of respect for the three, who did not play for the national team, who it said were “targeted” in an “attack carried out by the Pakistani regime” on Friday evening.

The strike hit a home in Urgon district in eastern Paktika province, where the cricketers were eating dinner together after a match, eyewitnesses and local officials told the BBC.

Eight people were killed, the ACB said. Pakistan said the strike targeted militants and denied attacking civilians.

The ACB named the three players who were killed as Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon, calling their deaths “a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family”.

The attack came hours after a temporary truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan was due to expire following days of deadly clashes on the border between the two nations. Dozens of casualties have been reported.

Pakistan said it had targeted Afghan militants in the air strike and that at least 70 combatants had been killed.

Pakistan’s Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar said claims that the attack targeted civilians are “false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan”.

On Saturday, large crowds of people were seen gathering at the funeral for the strike’s victims.

In a social media post, Afghan national team captain Rashid Khan paid tribute to the “aspiring young cricketers who dreamed of representing their nation on the world stage”.

Other players for the Afghan national side joined the tributes, including Fazalhaq Farooqi who said the attack was a “heinous, unforgivable crime”.

The strike came after Pakistani officials said seven soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghan border on Friday.

The 48-hour truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which began on Wednesday at 13:00 GMT, has reportedly been extended to allow for negotiations.

An Afghan delegation arrived in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday for peace talks with the Pakistani side.

The Taliban government said it would take part in the talks despite “Pakistani aggression”, which it says was Islamabad’s attempt to prolong the conflict.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Pakistan should “reconsider its policies, and pursue friendly and civilised relations” with Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Saturday that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif would lead the country’s delegation in Doha.

It said the talks will focus on ending cross-border terrorism and restoring peace and stability on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

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SEATTLE (AP) — As Eugenio Suárez crossed home plate, he formed a heart with his hands as he has countless times.

Suárez suddenly stopped, pointed toward his wife in the stands behind home plate and took a second to embrace the moment. His bat had brought the Mariners within a victory of the first World Series trip for a team that started play in 1977.

Suárez hit a go-ahead grand slam after Cal Raleighâ€s tying drive in a five-run eighth inning, giving the Mariners a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series.

“Iâ€ve been waiting for games like this my whole career,†Suárez said. “Today, I had it. Today, I had it in front of our crowd, in front of my family, my two daughters, my wife, and the moment is very special right now.â€

Suárez also homered in the second inning for Seattleâ€s first run, and the Mariners became the first home team to win in the series.

Game 6 is at Toronto on Sunday night.

“For our fans, theyâ€ve been waiting a long time for this moment and weâ€re here to give it to them. Weâ€re here to fight for a World Series,†Suárez said.

Raleigh, a switch-hitting catcher who led the major leagues with 60 home runs during the regular season, was hitting right-handed for the first time in the series when he led off the eighth by pulling a 2-0 sinker from loser Brendon Little.

“I came in and really couldnâ€t have pitched worse,†Little said.

The 348-foot drive rose 155 feet above the field on a high arc and had a 6.7-second hang time before it dropped over the left field wall at T-Mobile Park.

“It felt like Calâ€s ball was in the air for like an hour,†Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.

Raleighâ€s fourth homer of the postseason tied the score 2-2.

“Obviously it was really high, so you never know in this building,†Raleigh said. “Luckily today the roofâ€s closed.â€

Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor walked, and Seranthony Domínguez relieved and hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch.

Suárez fouled off a 2-2 fastball, then hit an opposite-field drive to right, and the ball landed several rows into the seats for his fourth slam this season.

“Obviously, this is the biggest home run of my career,†Suárez said.

Suárez, who had put Seattle ahead in the second against Kevin Gausman, entered the game in a 6-for-50 slump. He was reacquired from Arizona at the trade deadline, finished the regular season with 49 homers and has three in the playoffs.

“Iâ€ve been waiting for this for a long time,†Suárez said. “Itâ€s been a while (since) Iâ€ve had a game like this today. It was awesome being able to hit that grand slam there to give the win to my team, to the fans. Theyâ€ve been here supporting us all year long.â€

Seattleâ€s Bryce Miller was pitching shutout ball when he was removed after allowing Addison Bargerâ€s leadoff single in the fifth, and George Springer hit an RBI double off Matt Brash.

Springer left in the seventh when he was hit on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph sinker from Bryan Woo.

“Heâ€s got a right knee contusion. He had X-rays, which were negative, which is a good thing.,†Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “George is about as tough as they come. I think heâ€ll have to really, really be hurting to not be in the lineup on Sunday.â€

Pitching for the first time since Sept. 19 after recovering from pectoral tightness, Woo allowed Ernie Clementâ€s go-ahead single in the sixth.

Gabe Speier got the win with a perfect, nine-pitch eighth inning. Toronto wasted many chances, going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Raleigh turned only the second 2-3 grounded double into play in postseason history when Clement tapped the ball onto the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning. Raleigh grabbed the ball with a foot on the plate for a forceout, then threw to first.

The prior 2-3 DP in Game 2 of the 2000 ALCS was turned by Wilson with the New York Yankees†Bernie Williams at the plate.

“Thatâ€s what heâ€s done all season long,†Wilson said of Raleigh, “both sides of the ball.â€

Up next

Rookie RHP Trey Yesavage, who started Game 2 of both the AL Division Series, will start for the Blue Jays in Game 6. The Mariners scored five runs off the 22-year-old on Monday.

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LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani did something that has never happened before in the annals of postseason baseball.

Ohtani took the mound to start against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. He walked the first batter and then struck out the next three on the way to six shutout innings.

He then led off the bottom of the first inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers and parked a full-count pitch deep into the right field pavilion, his first of three homers on the night.

Not even Babe Ruth did that. But Ohtani did, showing everyone why the Dodgers were willing to pay him $700 million over 10 years, with $680 million of that money deferred.

“That first inning. It was amazing,” said Dodgers owner Mark Walter, the NL championship trophy nestled in his arms after the Dodgers claimed the best-of-seven series by sweeping the Brewers with a 5-1 win, booking a spot in their second straight World Series. “There’s not much more you can ask from a player.”

The first inning heroics was only the beginning of the night for Ohtani, whose three homers were wedged into a pitching performance that went into the seventh inning. He left at 100 pitches without allowing a run on two hits. He walked three and struck out 10, and he was credited with his second win in two starts this postseason. Ohtani’s historic Game 4 earned him the series MVP.

“You can’t script this,” Walter said. “Six innings of shutout ball and three home runs? That’s crazy.”

The three homers totaled 1,342 feet, the second in the fourth inning striking the right field pavilion roof some 469 feet away where few players have feared to tread. It hit the roof and rolled off into the concession area behind it.

“That was the greatest postseason performance of all time and there have been a lot of postseason games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet. What he did on the mound. What he did with the bat. He created a lot of memories for a lot of people.”

The Brewers, whose 97-65 record was the best in MLB this season, were inept in the series scoring five runs on 14 hits in the four games.

“We were part of an iconic performance, maybe the best individual performance ever in a postseason game,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, echoing the common sentiment. “I don’t think anybody can argue with that. A guy punches out 10 and hits three homers. I’m proud of our team, but it came to an end tonight.”

The Brewers had previously handled Ohtani well; in the first three games, they held him to 2-for-11 in the series with no homers, five whiffs and a .721 OPS. He finished the series 5-for-14 while his OPS leapt to 1.643 with the results of the one game. He’s had five homers now in the postseason, all of which came in two games; he had two homers in Game 1 of a Wild Card Series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

“The last couple days I felt pretty good at the plate,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “And just because of the postseason, the small sample size, the lack of performance really skews in this short period of time.”

Still, between a four-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in an NL Division Series and this NLCS, Ohtani has struggled. He went 6-for-32 (.188) with the three homers, five RBIs, 14 strikeouts and six walks, three of them intentional.

His slump lifted Friday night.

“He’s probably the greatest free agent signing of all-time,” Walter, who signed Ohtani in late 2023, said. “I mean, he’s unbelievable. We’re just lucky to have him.”

The Dodgers bring in over $100 million a season in marketing and advertising from Asian firms, thanks to their three Japanese pitchers: Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaski.

“We make a lot of money from those guys, for sure,” Walter said. “But it takes a team to win, it really does.”

The Dodgers will play either the Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series beginning Friday night in either Los Angeles or Toronto, depending on the results of the American League Championship Series. The Mariners lead 3-2 with Game 6 on Sunday night at Rogers Centre. Game 7 is on Monday night, if necessary.

In Seattle on Friday night, the Mariners were trailing the Blue Jays, 2-1, in the eighth inning in T-Mobile Park when Cal Raleigh tied it with his fourth playoff homer. He led Major League Baseball with 60 on the season this year.

Raleigh’s homer happened almost simultaneously to Ohtani’s first-inning blast about 1,000 miles away. Eugenio Suarez followed Raleigh with a grand slam later in the inning to seal the 6-2 win, sending the Mariners back to Toronto with two chances of qualifying for the World Series, a first in franchise history.

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The 2025 MLB postseason is in full swing. After a thrilling Wild Card round and a Division Series round which included an instant classic between the Mariners and the Tigers, the road to the 2025 MLB World Series continues. How inevitable are the Dodgers, exactly? Weâ€re about to find out.

Below is everything you need to know about the 2025 MLB postseason schedule and format.

Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani at the top? Our early 2026 Top 300 rankings highlight key fantasy storylines heading into the MLB offseason.

When is the 2025 World Series?

The 2025 World Series is scheduled to begin on Friday October 24, and would go through Saturday November 1 if the series goes seven games.

âš¾ï¸ Who is the favorite to win the 2025 World Series?

Per DraftKings (as of Saturday, October 18):

• Dodgers -185
• Mariners +215
• Blue Jays +850

Who Has Home-Field Advantage For the 2025 World Series?

Home-field advantage goes to the team with the best record. If the teams have the same record, home-field advantage will be determined by tiebreakers.

The Brewers finished the regular season with the best record in baseball at 97-65. However, since they were eliminated by the Dodgers during the NLCS, home-field advantage for the World Series is up for grabs.

If the Mariners (90-72) win the American League pennant, the Dodgers (93-69) would have home-field advantage. If the Blue Jays (94-68) come back to beat the Mariners, they would have home-field over the Dodgers.

What is the 2025 MLB Postseason Schedule?

âš¾ Championship Series: October 12-21

(ALCS airing on TBS, truTV and HBO Max; NLCS airing on FOX, FS1, and FOX Deportes: Game times are TBA)

*if necessary

Date

Matchup

10/12/25

Mariners at Blue Jays (ALCS Game 1)

SEA 3, DET 1

10/13/25

Mariners at Blue Jays (ALCS Game 2)

SEA 10, DET 3

Dodgers at Brewers (NCLS Game 1)

LAD 2, MIL 1

10/14/25

Dodgers at Brewers (NCLS Game 2))

LAD 5, MIL 1

10/15/25

Blue Jays at Mariners (ALCS Game 3)

TOR 13, SEA 4

10/16/25

Brewers at Dodgers (NLCS Game 3)

LAD 3, MIL 1

Blue Jays at Mariners (ALCS Game 4)

TOR 8, SEA 2

10/17/25

Blue Jays at Mariners (ALCS Game 5)

SEA 6, TOR 2

Brewers at Dodgers (NLCS Game 4)

LAD 5, MIL 1

10/19/25

Mariners at Blue Jays (ALCS Game 6)

8:03 p.m. ET

10/20/25

Mariners at Blue Jays (ALCS Game 7)*

8:08 p.m. ET

âš¾ 2025 World Series: October 24-November 1

(World Series airing on FOX: Game times are TBA)

*if necessary

Date

Series

Matchup

10/24/25

World Series, Game 1

League Champ #2 at League Champ #1

10/25/25

World Series, Game 2

League Champ #2 at League Champ #1

10/27/25

World Series, Game 3

League Champ #1 at League Champ #2

10/28/25

World Series, Game 4

League Champ #1 at League Champ #2

10/29/25

World Series, Game 5 *

League Champ #1 at League Champ #2

10/31/25

World Series, Game 6 *

League Champ #2 at League Champ #1

11/1/25

World Series, Game 7 *

League Champ #2 at League Champ #1

2025 MLB Playoff Rules

What Are The Replay Rules for the 2025 MLB Playoffs?

Managers get just one challenge during the regular season, but they are afforded two challenges in the postseason. If a challenge is successful, the manager keeps their challenge; they lose one of their challenges if the original call is confirmed. From the eighth inning onward, the crew chief can still review certain calls if a team has exhausted their challenges.

Will the Runner-on-Second Rule Apply in Extra Innings During the 2025 MLB Playoffs?

No. As opposed the regular season, the bases will be empty to begin extra innings and the game will be played under those circumstances until completion.

Can MLB Teams Replace Injured Players During the Playoffs?

Yes. Teams can replace an injured player during a series, but that player will be deemed ineligible for the remainder of the series and the following round should the team advance.

Additionally, a pitcher may only be replaced by another pitcher and a position player may only be replaced by another position player.

MLB Postseason Roster Eligibility Rules Explained

Any player on the 40-man roster or injured list as of noon ET on September 1 is eligible for the postseason. Players who were in the organization (and not on the 40-man roster) by that deadline may also replace someone on the 10-day or 60-day injured list, provided the injured player has served the minimum required time (10 days for the 10-day IL, 60 days for the 60-day IL). The substitute must also be added to the 40-man roster before joining the postseason roster.

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Shohei Ohtani delivered one of the greatest performances in baseball history as defending champions the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers to reach the World Series.

Japan’s Ohtani smashed three huge home runs and struck out 10 Brewers batters in a comprehensive 5-1 victory as the Dodgers swept the series 4-0.

The 31-year-old’s trifecta of home runs and 10 strikeouts in the same game is a Major League Baseball post-season record, highlighting a rare talent of excelling with bat and ball.

Ohtani also became the first pitcher since the Boston Braves’ Jim Tobin in 1942 to hit three home runs in the same game.

“It was really fun on both sides of the ball today,” said Ohtani, who was awarded the Most Valuable Player award for his heroics.

“I’m taking this trophy and let’s get four more wins. We won it as a team and this is really a team effort. I hope everybody in LA and Japan and all over the world could enjoy a really good sake [Japanese rice wine].”

Ohtani’s entered the game at the Dodger Stadium on the back of an eight-game home run drought, but led from the front as he struck out three batters in the opening frame.

He then starred with the bat in a performance which included a crushing 446 foot home run and a monster 469 foot hit which bounced out of the stadium.

It marked another historic showing from Ohtani, who last year became the first player ever to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.

“That was probably the greatest post-season performance of all time,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“There’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet. It’s kind of whatever you don’t expect, expect him to do it.

“This is just a performance that I’ve just never seen. No-one’s ever seen something like this. I’m still in awe right now of Shohei.”

The Dodgers’ comfortable victory sets up a World Series showdown against the Toronto Blue Jays or Seattle Mariners, with the latter 3-2 up in the best-of-seven series.

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Dave Roberts and the Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t afraid of embracing a villain persona. Especially when they have a fully operational Death Star hitting and pitching for them.

As the Dodgers celebrated a second straight National League title and a chance to become MLB’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years, their manager took the microphone and executed a perfect heel turn:

“Before this season started, they said, ‘The Dodgers are ruining baseball.’ Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”

Roberts’ players approved of the statement, as did the fans at Dodger Stadium. The group will attempt to follow through on his threat against either the Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays, with the Mariners holding a 3-2 ALCS advantage after Friday.

That’s the kind of confidence you get after a dominant sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, who posted the best record in MLB in the regular season (including a 6-0 record against the Dodgers). The L.A. rotation of Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow anchored those four wins with a combined 28 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs, 7 walks and 35 strikeouts.

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Of course, that quartet of pitchers also epitomize why so many opposing fans see the Dodgers as not just bad for their own team but also bad for baseball.

Are the Dodgers really bad for baseball?

The Dodgers and Brewers were perfectly set up as a clash of baseball archetypes. The Dodgers were the big, bad, large-market team with the most expensive roster in baseball, underwritten by an enormous local TV contract and Ohtani’s cultural power. The Brewers had a bottom-10 payroll in one of the league’s smallest markets, succeeding through shrewd decisions at the plate and in the front office.

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You already know which one won.

Even if you adjust Ohtani’s heavily deferred $700 million contract for inflation, that four-man Dodgers rotation collectively makes more than the entire Brewers $123 million roster. The smallest of those four contracts (Glasnow’s five-year, $137 million deal) would still obliterate the Brewers’ largest contract ever for a pitcher (Matt Garza, four years and $50 million).

Brewers manager Pat Murphy, fond of calling his very talented roster the “Average Joes,” leaned into that dichotomy throughout the series, at one point claiming that some Dodgers players couldn’t name more than eight players on his roster. It possibly became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the Dodgers absolutely looked and acted like the more talented team.

[Get more L.A. news: Dodgers team feed]

Back-to-back Dodgers titles would mean money works, even if plenty of other high-spending teams — the Dodgers included — have struggled to dominate like what L.A. is doing now. The New York Mets, MLB’s second-largest payroll, failed to make the postseason. The New York Yankees, with the third-largest payroll, have won only one title since 2000 and crashed out hard in the ALDS.

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It’s funny to think that the Dodgers were quite literally bankrupt 15 years ago, and then they landed with a dream ownership group, who hired the right people and signed the right Japanese unicorn. Until 2024, it was easy to disregard them. Their money had bought them only one World Series title, the often-mocked 2020 title won amid the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, it’s not so easy.

The Dodgers look unbeatable. It might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

(Mary DeCicco via Getty Images)

Will the Dodgers ruin baseball with another title? That probably depends on your definition of “ruin.” Baseball itself would probably see higher ratings and general interest with a true juggernaut capturing headlines, as is true for pretty much every other major league over the past half-century. Last year’s World Series between L.A. and New York saw a seven-year high in ratings and drew more viewers in Japan than the NBA Finals did in the U.S.

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However, the Dodgers putting it all together is very bad news for your team if you’re not a Dodgers fan. Rooting for a team is hard enough when it theoretically has a 1-in-30 chance of winning the championship. It’s even harder when you look over and see a team, particularly a rich one, seemingly ready to gobble up half the titles of the next decade. It’s more a question of fairness than one about the fate of the game, though those debates might become one and the same during the next CBA negotiations, in which MLB is already pushing for a salary cap.

There is a way to credit the Dodgers for what they have done — what Ohtani has done in particular — while conceding that, yes, Milwaukee was facing an uphill battle because of all that expensive talent. The same will be true in the World Series if the Mariners finish off the Blue Jays, who had a top-10 payroll this year.

For now, though, the Dodgers are just going to have fun with their critics. That’s what villains do.

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• 

  Buster OlneyOct 17, 2025, 09:22 PM ET

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  • Senior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com
  • Analyst/reporter ESPN television
  • Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”

SEATTLE — Eugenio and Genesis Suárez, husband and wife, had long envisioned a moment like the one he experienced here Friday evening, when his dramatic grand slam moved the Seattle Mariners within one victory of winning the AL Championship Series.

With Seattle trailing the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Cal Raleigh tied the score with a solo home run, and then four batters later, Suárez blasted a bases-loaded shot over the right-field wall — his second homer of the game — to help the Mariners win 6-2 in Game 5 of the ALCS.

Seattle has a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series that moves back to Toronto for Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7.

On Sunday, rookie Trey Yesavage starts the must-win Game 6 for Toronto.

“We still have home-field advantage,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “As cool of an environment it is to play here, I know that our fans are going to be ready for us to get home on Sunday. I’ve said it all along. It’s a seven-game series, and we did our job coming in here taking two out of three, and we’re going to go home and we’re going to definitely be ready to play.

“All we can do is enjoy the flight back to Toronto, enjoy our beds at our homes and our families, and we’re going to get after it on Sunday. … We’ll get after it on Sunday. We’ll be ready to play. I wouldn’t have it any other way with this group. Our backs are going to be against the wall, great. We don’t give a s—. … It’s going to be fun, and I hope these guys are ready for it.”

This is Suárez’s 12th year in the majors and, afterward, he explained that he and his wife had prayed for a moment like this, when all parts of his life would collide, professional and personal, success and joy and family, melded together.

“I’ve been waiting for games like this my whole career,” Suárez said. “Today, I had it. Today, I had it in front of our crowd, in front of my family, my two daughters, my wife, and the moment is very special right now.”

Eugenio Suárez on putting Seattle on the verge of its first World Series appearance with a late, go-ahead grand slam: “This is the biggest home run of my career.” AP Photo/David J. Phillip

It was unexpected, based on what occurred in recent days and in the early innings of this game. The Jays had blown out the Mariners in Games 3 and 4, and then in Game 5, Toronto took a 2-1 lead when Ernie Clement singled home Alejandro Kirk in the sixth inning. Schneider placed that lead in the hands of left-hander Brendon Little in the eighth inning, continuing to throw different relievers at different parts of the Seattle lineup, rather than allowing the Mariners’ best hitters get accustomed to the same relievers day after day.

But Raleigh, batting right-handed, clubbed a high fly ball to left — it felt like the ball was in the air for an hour, Mariners manager Dan Wilson said later — and after reaching an apex of 155 feet, it dropped into the stands. Tie game.

Raleigh and Suárez were the only stable parts in a lineup that had been altered before this game, with Wilson moving Julio Rodriguez to the leadoff spot and Josh Naylor to cleanup, dropping Randy Arozarena to the fifth spot. But for Little, the sequence of hitters didn’t really matter; he just couldn’t throw strikes.

He walked Jorge Polanco, and Naylor. Seranthony Dominguez replaced him, and hit Arozarena with a pitch, loading the bases for Suárez, who had hit a solo homer in the second inning.

Suárez played for the Mariners in 2022 and 2023 and in that time, his Seattle teammates came to appreciate his relentless good nature and his positive personality. On the July day that Seattle reacquired him from the Diamondbacks, he happened to be passing through the same Sacramento airport as the Mariners — Seattle had just finished a series against the Athletics, and the Diamondbacks were just arriving. The Mariners’ charter held for Suárez and his family to collect their things at baggage claim, and as the Suárez clan boarded the Seattle express, the players cheered happily.

Suárez didn’t hit especially well in his 53 regular-season games with the Mariners, batting .189 with 13 homers, struggles that continued into this postseason; he had a .162 average for October going into Game 5. In pregame work throughout this slump, Suárez had focused on driving the ball through the middle of the field, but without results.

Dominguez threw three straight sweepers, trying to get Suárez to hack at something outside of the strike zone; Suárez took one for a strike, fouled off another. When Dominguez fired a 97 mph fastball, Suárez fouled it off. The count was 2-2.

Bryce Miller had been in the clubhouse when Raleigh tied the score with his home run, and returned to the dugout, where he was standing next to Logan Gilbert as they watched Suárez’s at-bat. “Hey,” Gilbert said dryly to Miller, “all I’m asking for is a home run.”

Dominguez’s next pitch was 98 miles mph, on the outer third of the plate, and Suárez leaned into his swing, aiming to take the ball to right field. Contact. The Jays’ Nathan Lukes ran back to the warning track, head tilted upward to track the fly and then peeled off; there was nothing he could do. The home run landed three rows into the stands, and there was nothing Barger could do.

Suárez lifted both hands toward the sky, as if to accept a gift, and jogged slowly around the bases. T-Mobile Park, Wilson said later, was as loud as he had ever heard it. Rodriguez ran onto the field, briefly forgetting where he was and what he needed to do; when he regained some equilibrium, he raced back to the dugout, grabbed the Mariners’ trident and handed it to Suárez, who hoisted it into the air and yelled, sharing the moment with the crowd.

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Not long after the Mariners’ closed out the Game 5 victory, Suárez slipped into a side door of the interview room with his two young daughters, Nicolle and Melanie, guiding with a hand on the shoulder of each. They had flown in from Florida late Thursday night, arriving at 1 a.m., and now they were with him as he met spoke with the media.

A reporter asked the girls what was the best thing about their Dad. Nicolle spoke up. “Doing the home run,” she said.

On this day, two home runs. The girls are flying back to Miami on a redeye tonight, Eugenio said as he walked out of the interview room, because Nicolle has a presentation in school Monday, while Eugenio is headed to Toronto. That is where the Mariners need one more win to reach the World Series for the first time in the history of the franchise.

“I just feel so grateful right now,” Suárez said, “and feel so good because we’re going to Toronto with an opportunity in front of us to go to a World Series.”

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  Alden GonzalezOct 16, 2025, 09:09 PM ET

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  ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.

LOS ANGELES — In the final inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday, a 3-1 victory that put the Los Angeles Dodgers a win away from another pennant, Mookie Betts evoked visions of Derek Jeter.

Betts ranged to his right, backhanded an Andrew Vaughn grounder, leaped and threw to first to complete a play made iconic by the former New York Yankees captain. A converted right fielder, Betts had never practiced that play and had barely ever thought to attempt it. That he dared to in that moment spoke volumes not only of his confidence at the position, but of the conviction his team has carried throughout October.

The Dodgers, coming off an underwhelming 93-win regular season, have played in nine postseason games this year and lost only once. They breezed past the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round, dispatched the star-laden Philadelphia Phillies in four Division Series games and have since held the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Brewers to three runs in 27 innings in this NLCS. With a win in Friday’s Game 4 — with Shohei Ohtani back on the mound — the Dodgers will return to the World Series after a sweep.

These days, everything seems to come easy.

“We just have a lot of guys with experience, and we know what it takes to win the big games,” Dodgers infielder Tommy Edman said. “We have a lot of confident guys in the room, not in a bad way or in an arrogant way or anything like that, but guys are very confident in their ability. And it comes from having gotten it done in the past.”

It was less than 12 months ago that the Dodgers got it done, riding a resilient group of relievers to their first full-season championship in 36 years. Now, behind a starting rotation that is every bit as deep and overwhelming as last year’s bullpen, the Dodgers are one win away from joining the 2009 Phillies as the first team to return to the World Series one year after winning it. Five more wins, and they’ll become the first team to win back-to-back titles in a quarter century.

“We’re up,” Betts said. “But, you know, like [former Lakers great] Kobe [Bryant] said, ‘The job’s not done.’ So, we’ve got to keep going and just keep applying pressure.”

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Tyler Glasnow took the ball three days after Blake Snell shut out the Brewers through eight innings in Game 1 and two days after Yoshinobu Yamamoto twirled nine innings of one-run ball in Game 2, producing baseball’s first postseason complete game in eight years. The Brewers threatened early, as four of their first eight batters reached base, but Glasnow cruised thereafter, striking out six of seven batters in the third and fourth innings and pitching into the sixth with only a run across.

The most encouraging development followed. Glasnow issued a two-out walk to Vaughn in the sixth, his pitch count already at 99, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts walked out of the dugout. He sought 10 outs from a bullpen that had been a major problem area all year and got it from Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda and Roki Sasaki, four relievers who combined to allow just one baserunner.

“I think the thing about our guys is they’re battle-tested, and they know that I’ve never lost faith in them,” Roberts said. “They’ve never lost confidence in each other. So, to see what they’re doing right now, I’m not surprised. We knew all along we were going to need these guys. And these guys are delivering, which is huge. We’re doing a great job of preventing runs. And the bullpen deserves a lot of credit.”

So does the Dodgers’ defense, which has been stellar in the playoffs. It was obvious again in Thursday’s second inning, when the Brewers tied the score at 1 and placed a runner on third with one out.

The Dodgers had their infield drawn in when Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz reached out for a curveball and produced a sharp grounder to the left side. Max Muncy, the Dodgers’ third baseman who helped execute the memorable wheel play in Philadelphia during the previous round, made a sliding catch to his left, turned and fired a perfect throw to Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who applied the tag to get the lead runner.

The Brewers placed only one more runner in scoring position the rest of the game.

“It was kind of a big moment,” Muncy said.

Another big moment occurred in the sixth inning. Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers’ hard-throwing sensation, relieved opener Aaron Ashby in the first inning and stifled the Dodgers’ hitters while pitching in the shadows. When Misiorowski caught Betts looking at a 99 mph fastball on the outside corner, it marked his ninth strikeout, the third most in postseason history by a reliever. But Smith followed with a sharp single, Freddie Freeman drew a walk, and Edman produced what became the game-winning hit by lining a low slider into center field.

Misiorowski was 73 pitches in by that point, the most he had thrown in a game since Sept. 19. Abner Uribe, who later allowed a third run to score with an errant pickoff throw, was ready in the bullpen.

“Abner has not been throwing the ball like he normally has,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “I had to make a decision on who’s a better matchup. Miz was the best player on the field for us today, and he was fantastic. I knew he was getting to the end because that’s his pitch-count kind of thing, but in a game like this, I wanted to give him a chance to get out of that.”

Before these Dodgers, the 1999 Yankees were the last defending champions to win eight of their first nine postseason games and the last defending champions to take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series, according to ESPN Research. The Dodgers are also the last team since the 1996 Atlanta Braves — headlined by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz — to allow no more than a run in four consecutive playoff games.

The Dodgers still feel as if they can be better offensively — as evidenced by Ohtani going 3-for-29 since the wild-card round — but they have the look of a team that no longer believes it can be beaten.

“When the postseason rolls around, we all kind of lean on each other a little harder,” Vesia said. “One-hundred and sixty-two games is a long season. Things go our way, things don’t. But it is a breath of fresh air when October rolls around.”

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