Shohei Ohtani’s blistering start to the 2025 World Series couldn’t prevent the Los Angeles Dodgers from absorbing a brutal 11-4 defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. The two-way superstar, fresh off a historic NLCS performance that saw him homer three times and strike out 10 as a pitcher in the clinching Game 4, launched a mammoth two-run shot in the seventh inning—his fourth homer in two games—but it came far too late to spark a comeback. With the loss, the Dodgers fell into an early 1-0 series hole, exposing vulnerabilities in their pitching staff that the Blue Jays exploited with ruthless efficiency.
The evening began with promise under the glowing lights of Chavez Ravine, where a sellout crowd of over 52,000 packed the stands, eager to see Ohtani build on his postseason legend. The Dodgers struck first in the opening frame when Mookie Betts doubled and scored on Freddie Freeman’s sharp single to right, giving starter Blake Snell a 1-0 cushion. But the lead felt fragile from the start. Snell, the 2023 NL Cy Young winner acquired midseason to bolster L.A.’s rotation, struggled with command early, walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and allowing a Bo Bichette single in the first. Toronto tied it in the second on Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly, setting the stage for disaster.
Ohtani’s first big moment arrived in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded and two outs—precisely the high-leverage spot where the $700 million man thrives. Toronto starter José Berríos, working on a tight 92-pitch count, battled the left-handed slugger through a seven-pitch at-bat. Ohtani fouled off a pair of 96-mph fastballs up and in, then chased a slider low and away, grounding weakly to second base. The Blue Jays escaped unscathed, and the missed opportunity loomed large as the game spiraled out of control. “That’s baseball,” Ohtani said postgame through interpreter Will Ireton. “Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t. We just have to keep fighting.”
The floodgates opened in the sixth inning, a nine-run explosion that turned a competitive contest into a rout. Snell, laboring through 5⅓ innings, issued his fourth walk to load the bases before manager Dave Roberts pulled him for reliever Ryan Brasier. What followed was a nightmare sequence: Addison Barger, pinch-hitting for Ernie Clement, crushed a 3-2 cutter 415 feet to right-center for a grand slam—his first career postseason homer and Toronto’s first pinch-hit slam in World Series history. Kirk followed two batters later with a two-run shot off Brasier, his second homer in as many games after going deep in the ALCS. By the time the inning ended, the Blue Jays had batted around twice, sending 13 men to the plate and hanging nine runs on a Dodgers bullpen that entered the postseason with a sparkling 2.88 ERA.
Ohtani’s seventh-inning response was vintage Sho-time. Facing rookie reliever Braydon Fisher with Teoscar Hernández aboard via walk, Ohtani turned on a 98-mph fastball middle-in, sending it 428 feet into the right-field pavilion at 112 mph off the bat. The blast, his 10th career World Series homer, cut the deficit to 11-4 and momentarily silenced the contingent of Blue Jays fans who had traveled south. Statcast tracked the launch angle at 28 degrees with a projected distance that would have cleared the fence in all 30 MLB parks. Yet the damage was done; the Dodgers managed just one more baserunner the rest of the way.
The game carried extra emotional weight for Ohtani, who nearly became a Blue Jay in December 2023. During the winter meetings frenzy, reports surfaced that Toronto was the frontrunner for his services after a secretive meeting at the team’s Dunedin spring training complex. Ohtani left Florida with a Blue Jays hat and jacket—gifts for his dog, Decoy—that he never returned. Manager John Schneider, in a lighthearted moment during Thursday’s media session, quipped, “I’d like my hat back, and Decoy can keep the jacket.” The jab drew laughs, but Blue Jays fans took it further Friday. During pregame introductions, Ohtani was met with thunderous boos, a stark contrast to the hero’s welcome he receives nightly in L.A. The ninth inning brought chants of “We don’t need you!” as he stepped in against lefty Eric Lauer. Ohtani walked on five pitches, then nearly got picked off first after straying too far—only a successful challenge overturned the call.
For the Dodgers, the loss exposed cracks in a rotation that had carried them to 98 regular-season wins. Snell lasted just 5⅓ innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out six. The bullpen meltdown—Brasier, Joe Kelly, and Alex Vesia combining to allow eight earned runs—raised questions about depth heading into Game 2, where Landon Knack is slated to start against Kevin Gausman. Roberts remained defiant: “One bad inning doesn’t define us. We’ve been through worse and come out stronger.”
Ohtani’s two-way excellence remains the Dodgers’ trump card. Limited to designated hitter duties for most of 2025 while rehabbing from September 2024 elbow surgery, he posted video-game numbers: .282/.389/.646 with 55 homers, 102 RBIs, 20 steals, and a 1.010 OPS. On the mound, he made 14 starts, going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 47 innings. His NLCS masterpiece—three homers, 10 Ks, and a win in relief—earned him series MVP honors and cemented his status as the most valuable player in baseball. Roberts confirmed Ohtani will start either Game 3 or 4 on the mound, potentially facing his former suitors in a pivotal matchup.
Toronto’s offensive outburst was a collective effort. Guerrero Jr. reached base four times (two hits, two walks), Bichette added three RBIs, and Kirk continued his postseason tear with three hits and three RBIs in Game 1. Barger’s grand slam, coming on a 0-2 count, showcased the Blue Jays’ depth—a roster built on power (221 regular-season homers) and opportunistic hitting. Schneider praised his club’s resilience: “We knew their arms were taxed after the NLCS. We just kept putting pressure on.”
As the series shifts to Game 2 Saturday night, the Dodgers face a familiar crossroads. Last year’s championship run included a Game 1 loss to the Yankees before they rattled off four straight wins. Ohtani, who hit .310 with 54 homers and 59 steals en route to the 2024 title, knows the formula: stay aggressive, trust the process. “We’re not panicking,” he said. “One game doesn’t win or lose a series.”
For Blue Jays fans, Friday’s victory was sweet revenge—for the Ohtani near-miss, for years of playoff heartbreak. For Dodgers faithful, it’s a wake-up call. With Ohtani set to don both uniforms in the coming days, the 2025 World Series has only just begun to reveal its drama. Game 1 belonged to Toronto, but the Shohei Ohtani era in Los Angeles is far from finished.
