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This year's championship series is going to a final seventh game following the Dodgers kept their repeat hopes intact Friday night with a 3–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The reigning title holders halted Toronto’s late-game comeback with a thrilling final double play, stunning a Rogers Centre crowd that had arrived prepared to cheer the team's championship in over three decades.

Game 6 Summary

The Dodgers produced all of their offense in the third frame. With two outs, Ohtani was intentionally walked before Will Smith doubled to left to score Edman. Freeman drew a walk to fill the bases, and Mookie Betts delivered with a two-RBI hit to the opposite field, handing the Dodgers a three-run lead.

Betts’ hit broke a postseason slump and rekindled the title holders' hopes of being the first repeat championship victors since the New York Yankees captured three consecutive from 1998 to 2000.

Mound Duel

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that point, fanning six of the initial seven batters he confronted. He fanned 8 through three frames, tying a World Series record, but the third-inning barrage proved decisive. The Toronto ace finished with 8 Ks over six innings, yielding three earned runs on three hits and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under stress. The righty outdueled his counterpart for the second time in a seven days, giving up one run on five hits over six innings with six strikeouts. He improved to 4–1 this playoffs with a 1.56 ERA.

The only run against him resulted from Springer’s two-out base hit in the third inning, driving in Addison Barger, who had hit a double earlier in the inning. Springer’s hit provided a brief spark in his return to the lineup after sitting out a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Heroics

From there, the Los Angeles relievers carried the load. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh inning, and fellow rookie Sasaki pitched into the ninth before hitting Kirk to start the inning. Addison Barger followed with a two-base hit that became wedged under the left-center-field fence, obliging runners to hold at second and third base.

Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' third game starting pitcher, entered in a relief role and got a popout before Giménez lined to left. Hernández caught the ball and threw to second base to double off the runner, clinching the victory and earning Glasnow his first career save.

Next Up: Game 7

The best-of-seven now boils down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will start for Toronto, becoming the sole active hurler to pitch in multiple World Series Game 7s after accomplishing that in the 2019 season with the Nationals. The 40-year-old signed a one-year deal to chase another championship and has been a vocal leader throughout this playoff run.

The Los Angeles squad, looking to be baseball’s first back-to-back champions in nearly a quarter-century, are projected to lean on Shohei Ohtani for a brief appearance.