Disappearing Dodgers on brink of disaster after World Series Game 5 loss

Unfathomable. Unwatchable. Intolerable.

Defeated.

The richest team in baseball is breaking at the seams, tearing under stress, fraying beyond recognition, piling up on the field of the 2025 baseball season in a pile of disappointments.

Soon, the so-called greatest collection of players in Dodgers history could be history.

Soon, in another country and seemingly another reality, the Dodgers could lose the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays, a hearty group of overachievers who took a three-game-to-two lead Wednesday with a 6-1 professional victory in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.

The series will now move to Toronto’s Rogers Center for the final two games, if necessary, starting Friday, and the former big favorites are now the decided underdogs. The Dodgers not only have to win both games on the American League’s toughest field, but they’ll also have to do so against a seemingly destined and tightly-knit franchise trying to win its first title in 32 years.

Not that Toronto is hungry for a title, but the Rogers Center recently filled 30,000 fans to watch the World Series…on television.

“We understand what this means for the city and the country, and I think it’s just remarkable,” Director John Schneider said. “There are watch parties and then there are watch parties, you know. It was great.

He added: “We’re excited to get back out there to play… the fans kind of become a part of you, and you kind of want to do that for them too.”

The Blue Jays are the Glue Jays.

The Dodgers are in pieces.

The Blue Jays became the first team in World Series history to open a game with back-to-back home runs Wednesday against Dodger ace Blake Snell, then battled and clawed their way to another run in the fourth, two more in the seventh and another in the eighth.

The Dodgers were only able to get a Kiké Hernández home run through seven innings against Jays rookie Trey Yesavage, then stumbled in the evening.

Yesavage set a World Series rookie record with 12 strikeouts. The Dodgers set something of an embarrassment record with three wild pitches in the deciding seventh.

The Blue Jays made every difficult defensive play look easy by eliminating every offensive threat. The Dodgers allowed the Jays to score their third run after a terrible right field play in a busy season, thanks to Teoscar Hernández.

In the end, the fans booed and the stands emptied and the team found itself on the brink of the greatest disappointment in franchise history. After winning the 2024 World Series championship, after spending about $500 million this winter to upgrade their roster and create the richest team in baseball history, after going through the first three rounds of this fall’s playoffs looking unbeatable…they’re about to be beaten by a team that would go from last place to first place and be populated by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and a bunch of grinders anonymous.

“The series is almost over! » sang one noisy spectator Wednesday evening. “The series is almost over! »

Almost?

Snell, who allowed five runs in five innings in his first World Series start against the Jays, picked up uncomfortably where he left off.

First pitch of the game, a big fastball, Davis Schneider propels it 373 feet over the left field fence for a great home run for a platoon guy batting .188 in the postseason.

Third pitch of the game, another big fastball, Guerrero Jr. sends it 394 feet over the left field fence, not that surprising for a guy with eight home runs in the postseason.

After Yesavage retired the first seven Dodgers batters, Kiké Hernández finally responded by sending a 1-for-1 fastball 407 feet into the left field pavilion for a homer that cut the lead to 2-1.

But in the fourth, right fielder Teoscar Hernández inexplicably dove in front of a Daulton Varsho blooper and turned it into a triple. Ernie Clement followed with a flyout to center field to score Varsho.

It was as if the game ended there. But then things got worse in the seventh, when Snell left after allowing a walk and a single while recording two outs.

Rookie Edgardo Henriquez – what was he doing in the game? – walked Guerrero on a wild pitch that scored a run. Bo Bichette then singled to score a second run, the inning ending with the Jays leading 5-1.

To add insult to injury, in the bottom of the seventh, Edman ruined a rally for the second time in the game by grounding into a double play.

And to think that before the game, the Dodgers pulled out all the pregame saves.

Keith Williams Jr. sang the national anthem. Magic Johnson threw out the first pitch. Anthony Anderson had the honor of shouting, “It’s Dodgers baseball time!”

There were even more bells and whistles on the roster card, as Roberts made his first major postseason renovations.

Andy Pages, hitting .080 for the playoffs with a .215 OPS which is the lowest in history for a player with at least 50 plate appearances?

On the bench.

Mookie Betts, hitting .158 in the postseason with no homers or RBIs and a consistent inability to make opponents pay for Shohei Ohtani’s intentional walk?

Lowered in the batting order from second to third for the first time in four years.

Will Smith, with a playoff homer and four RBIs? Moved to second place behind Ohtani.

The new outfielder? The Alex Call, driven by energy.

“I think in the postseason you have to be a little more responsive than in the regular season,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When I calculated the value of what I think, it gives us the best chance to win today.”

It wasn’t enough.

The winner of the fifth game of a tied baseball series wins the series 67% of the time.

A Dodger team that previously supported the Brinks truck is now officially on the brink.