Author: Rowan Kavner

For anyone up in arms wondering how World Series champion Dave Roberts wasn’t even a finalist (again) for Manager of the Year in the National League and how Blue Jays skipper John Schneider didn’t run away with the award in the American League, a reminder is warranted. 

The awards are based solely on the regular season, and votes are cast before the playoffs. Postseason performance does not factor in. 

Again: Postseason performance does not factor in. 

This feels especially important to reiterate when discussing this particular award compared to others voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, considering how subjective it is and how much the postseason can understandably shape fan perception of a manager’s performance. 

Unlike other awards, you can’t look at WAR or OPS or ERA to determine the credentials for the best manager in baseball. In addition, front offices increasingly have a role in decisions on the field, and we can’t possibly know how much one manager is involved over another or all the conversations taking place behind the scenes. 

What we can see, especially in October: Did the game speed up on the manager in the biggest moments? Did he let his starter ride where others might have turned to the bullpen? Did it work out? Did he pick the right relief matchup in the right spot? Did his pinch-hit decision work out? How did gut calls pay off? All of that can separate a good manager from a great one and a great season from a championship one. 

But, as one of the 30 BBWAA members who voted on the AL Manager of the Year Award this year, we only have the first 162 games to make a decision. So we look at wins and losses, and we look at which teams outplayed expectations, and we look at the managers who got the best out of their players and kept the ship afloat through hazardous seas. 

Schneider, who took the Blue Jays from worst to first in the always formidable AL East, had a strong argument to win the award even before guiding the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993. 

He would have been my vote a couple of weeks before season’s end, and he would still be a perfectly reasonable choice. 

But Cleveland’s historic finish to the year, during which Vogt kept the belief of a Guardians team that ultimately overcame a 15.5-game deficit — the largest ever to win a division — was enough to sway my vote for AL Manager of the Year. 

My final ballot: 

1. Stephen Vogt, Guardians
2. John Schneider, Blue Jays
3. Dan Wilson, Mariners

That’s how the BBWAA voting ultimately panned out, as well, with Vogt earning 17 of the BBWAA’s 30 first-place votes. Schneider received 10, Wilson got two and Boston’s Alex Cora got one. Cora finished fourth in the voting followed by Detroit’s A.J. Hinch in fifth and Houston’s Joe Espada in sixth. 

The Guardians were more than 15 games out of first place on July 8. By then, starter Luis Ortiz had been placed on administrative leave amid an MLB gambling investigation. Weeks later, Cleveland lost star closer Emmanuel Clase to the same investigation. Neither pitcher would throw another pitch for the Guardians in 2025, and both would later be indicted on charges tied to allegedly rigging pitches. 

At the deadline, no help arrived. 

In fact, Cleveland’s path forward was made even more challenging when the Guardians traded away former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber to Toronto as he approached his return from Tommy John surgery. 

It would have been easy to pack it up. 

The Guardians had a bottom-five payroll and an offense that lacked what appeared to be the requisite star power to mount a stunning comeback. José Ramírez could only do so much to lift an offense that finished the year ranked last in the AL in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS. 

Ramírez and first baseman Kyle Manzardo were the only Guardians players who hit above league average on the season. Ramírez and outfielder Steven Kwan were the only Guardians players worth at least 2 WAR. 

Meanwhile, the pitching wasn’t as overpowering as it was the year prior. The bullpen was missing Clase, and the rotation entered September ranked 18th in ERA and 19th in strikeout rate. 

On the morning of Sept. 5, with only 23 games left to play, the Guardians were still 11 games back in the AL Central. No team had ever overcome even a nine-game deficit in September to win a division. 

To his credit, Vogt kept the belief. 

“We can’t control the 11 games,” Vogt told me after winning the award. “The only way you can overcome a deficit like that is to win each individual game. We preached it and tried to live it every day.”

Certainly, the Tigers’ collapse down the stretch played a significant role in loosening Detroit’s season-long stranglehold in the AL Central, but that shouldn’t minimize what the Guardians accomplished, against all odds. 

They went 48-26 from July 7 through the end of the season, compiling more wins than any team in MLB during that time. And they finished the year winning 19 of their last 23 games, including a 5-1 mark against the Tigers team they were chasing, to ultimately capture their second straight division title under Vogt. 

He became the fourth skipper to win Manager of the Year in consecutive seasons, joining the Rays’ Kevin Cash (2020-21), the Braves’ Bobby Cox (2004-05) and the Brewers’ Pat Murphy, who was also named his respective league’s winner for the award for the second straight season on Tuesday. 

“I leaned on everyone around me,” Vogt told me. “I leaned on the coaching staff. I leaned on the front office. I leaned on the players. We were all in that together.”

Schneider and Wilson both mounted strong arguments. The Blue Jays, with a top-five payroll, a star in first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., a resurgent year from designated hitter George Springer and a bevy of depth pieces who took a massive leap forward, had a 20-win improvement and held off the Yankees to win their first division title in 10 years. The Mariners, bolstered by some major deadline additions, made a five-win improvement and won their first division title since 2001. 

Either would be fine choices, but neither overcame the odds of a Guardians team that everyone had counted out. It is the resilience of the Guardians that Vogt, who became the first skipper ever to win Manager of the Year in his first two big-league seasons at the helm, will remember most from the 2025 season.

“And that we actually got it done,” Vogt said.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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A month before Nick Kurtz put the exclamation mark on his Rookie of the Year campaign when he became the youngest player ever to homer four times in a game, Athletics slugger Brent Rooker already knew what he was witnessing was unlike anything he had seen from a 22-year-old. 

The Athletics returned home from a road trip to host an Astros team that employed two of Major League Baseball’s most overpowering late-inning relievers in Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader. On June 16, Rooker was standing on first base in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth inning when Kurtz pulverized a slider from Abreu, pulling it 111.7 mph off the bat and 447 feet out to right field at Sutter Health Park for a walk-off home run. 

Three days later, Kurtz walked off Hader in a similar manner, taking the Astros closer 416 feet out to dead center.

It was one of just two home runs that Hader allowed to a left-handed hitter all year, and it came off the bat of a player who was less than a year removed from his last college game. 

“I think a lot of our eyes were opened,” Rooker told me months later, “to just kind of how special he is.” 

It was around that time that Kurtz transformed from an intriguing prospect into the best hitter in Major League Baseball. From June 15 through the end of the season, Kurtz led MLB in both OPS (1.112) and wrC+ (200), hitting 100% better than league average and posting numbers that topped even what Yankees star Aaron Judge accomplished over that time. It was one of the best second halves ever, a remarkable feat for any player, let alone one who was drafted the season prior and had played in only 32 minor-league games. 

“There’s obviously a little bit of pressure added on top of that because, ‘He moved up fast, is he ready, is he not?’” Kurtz told me in September, a day before the A’s put up 17 runs on the Angels. “That’s kind of why you do it, you know? Yeah, it’s tough, but it’s what makes it fun and kind of the challenge of it all. All right, how good can I be with all that pressure?”

Historically good, as it turns out. 

Kurtz wasn’t called up until April 23, yet he still produced one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time, launching 36 home runs with a 1.002 OPS. The only other rookies to reach those numbers in the last 100 years were Judge in 2017 and Albert Pujols in 2001. 

The circumstances could’ve overwhelmed Kurtz. Instead, the quick ascension — and the doubters that came with it — served as extra motivation. 

“You think I’m not as good as I am? I’m going to try to prove you wrong,’” Kurtz said. “Then there’s also going and proving people right.”

‘He’s Years Advanced’

It’s easy now, considering Kurtz was crowned the unanimous Rookie of the Year on Monday, to forget that it took some time for his raw power to manifest as a big leaguer. 

For much of the year, Kurtz’s teammate, Jacob Wilson, was the odds-on favorite to win MLB’s top rookie honor. While Wilson racked up hits in bunches, Kurtz had a .558 OPS 23 games into his career. 

The 2024 No. 4 overall pick didn’t hit his first home run until his 17th game, and after he finally went deep, he then went hitless over his next six games. Kurtz struck out in 31 of his first 77 at-bats. 

And yet, by season’s end, he still led all rookies in home runs, runs, RBI, walks, slugging and OPS.

“The mental fortitude he has at 22, I was nowhere near that,” said teammate Shea Langeliers. “He’s years advanced.”

Langeliers, a 2019 first-round pick who was also an A’s top prospect when he debuted at 24 years old, could relate more than most to Kurtz’s situation. During Kurtz’s slow start, he encouraged the phenom first baseman to take a step back and think about the incredible situation he found himself in, living out his lifelong dream. 

The early growing pains were understandable for a player in Kurtz who was playing college baseball just a year ago. Suddenly, the pitches were moving more, and he was no longer seeing the same mistakes he was making at the lower levels with the same frequency. 

“It can be overwhelming,” Langeliers said. “It feels like you’ve got to be the best player on the field at all times.”

The biggest change Kurtz had to make was more mental than mechanical. 

Entering the big leagues, he always thought he should be able to get a hit off anybody in any at-bat. He would learn that’s not always possible. 

“Just being OK with failure,” Kurtz explained. “Being OK with, ‘I can’t hit a homer off this guy today, what else can I do to get on base? How can I provide value?’”

His A’s teammates helped him gain that perspective. 

“I’m talking to Shea, I’m talking to Rook, I’m talking to guys that are like, ‘This is what they’re doing to you, you got nothing to hit that at-bat, move on,’” Kurtz said. “… A lot of it is like, OK, what do I do now? What do I need to change? I got a hit off that last time. What should I look for next time?’”

Kurtz is prone to swing and miss, but he doesn’t chase out of the zone, and he’ll take his free passes. He always has. In just three seasons at Wake Forest, Kurtz set the team’s single-season and career records for walks. Even when Kurtz’s power wasn’t translating early on with the A’s, his teammates saw that same quality of at-bat and advanced approach and believed it was only a matter of time until everything clicked. They would relay those words of encouragement to the 22-year-old slugger. 

“‘Hey man, you’re obviously super talented,” Rooker would tell him. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, keep doing the right things, the production’s going to come.”

“‘You made it, just enjoy the moment, be in the moment,’” Langeliers recalled telling Kurtz. “And just something along the lines of, ‘Be yourself. You don’t have to be anything more. You’re here for a reason. You are that good. Just believe in that.’” 

Darren Bush, the team’s director of hitting, encouraged Kurtz to be a good hitter first and the home runs would follow. Over a 43-game stretch after the early slump, Kurtz blasted 22 homers. 

Mechanically, nothing significant had changed. 

“He was drafted last year, and he’s in the big leagues,” Bush said. “You’re not going to make a whole lot of changes. You have to learn how to adjust. You have to learn how to face big-league pitching and understand what they’re trying to do, and you have to learn how to continue to do what you do well and not allow them to alter you off of what you do well. That takes time.”

Yet after the slow start, Kurtz somehow seemed immune from the peaks and valleys most young players experience. 

While his average dipped down the stretch, his OPS for each individual month from May through the end of the year was above .850. He could hit any type of pitch, slugging over .500 against fastballs, breaking balls and offspeed pitches. 

By year’s end, he was one of just three players along with Judge and Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani to finish the season with an OPS over 1.000 in more than 400 at-bats. Seeing his name alongside those MVPs elicited a grin. 

“Obviously I know it’s there, I have Instagram,” Kurtz said. “I see that kind of stuff.” 

He tries not to let it impact him. 

“I really just like being where my feet are,” Kurtz said. “Today, let’s worry about today. Today sucked? OK, let’s worry about tomorrow. That’s how I kind of deal with failure, moving on. Baseball’s not life or death.” 

Homers and Standing Ovations

That mindset, even going back to Wake Forest, has always served Kurtz well. 

Kurtz had an OPS over 1.100 all three years in college, but through his first 19 games of his junior season, he was hitting .231 with only three home runs. 

He then mashed 14 home runs over his next 10 games. 

His ability to withstand the ups and downs of a season, Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter believes, is both the result of Kurtz’s exceptional decision-making at the plate and his personality. Even when Kurtz was getting pitched around late in his college career, he didn’t let that frustration bleed into his performance or force him out of the zone. 

“It’s not a ‘ride the emotional rollercoaster,’” Walter told me. “He takes a mature and professional approach to the game, and he understands that there are going to be stretches where you’re struggling, and there are going to be stretches where you’re really going good, and over time those are going to kind of even out.”

That’s how it played out in his first year with the A’s. 

Kurtz, who describes himself as a streaky power hitter, hit four home runs over a four-game stretch and seemed to be picking up steam in late May when he strained his hip flexor. He returned on June 9. A week later, he delivered the walk-offs against Abreu and Hader. 

Suddenly, the home runs started coming in bunches. 

His prodigious power was evident in his bat speed (sixth highest in MLB this year), his barrel rate (seventh in MLB), his 18 home runs that traveled more than 400 feet and the way he sprayed his homers across all fields. From July 8-21, he launched six in 10 games, setting the scene for the most memorable game of his captivating rookie year. 

On July 25 in Houston, Kurtz went 6-for-6 with four home runs, a feat accomplished only one other time in MLB history, when Shawn Green did it in 2002. Three of his four home runs went the other way into the Crawford Boxes in left field. It was such an extraordinary power display that it even earned an ovation and hat tips from Houston fans.

The rest of the year, Kurtz would continue to inspire awe with his feats of strength. 

In the middle of September, he hit such a breathtaking grand slam that his teammate Lawrence Butler, who was standing on second base, just turned around and stared at the ball with his mouth agape. The mammoth shot to center, a 493-foot blast that cleared the batter’s eye at Sutter Health Park, was the longest home run by any player since Ohtani hit one the same projected distance two years prior. 

“The way he handled the failure, this kid gets it,” Langeliers told me. “A lot of guys — I would say most guys — struggle with that when they first get here just because whatever your hole is, they’re going to find it, and they’re going to expose you.”

Only time will tell how Kurtz might need to adjust again. His breakout year came despite struggles against lefties and the seventh-highest strikeout rate among all players with at least 400 plate appearances. In addition, poor defensive grades at first base limited his overall value. Those deficiencies might also demonstrate the ceiling still untapped in the preternatural 22-year-old, who is part of a fascinating nucleus of offensive standouts in Sacramento. 

The A’s only won 76 games this year, but their offense ranked eighth in OPS. And with the emergence of Kurtz and Wilson, who became the first set of teammates to finish first and second in AL Rookie of the Year voting since 1984 (Mariners duo Alvin Davis and Mark Langston), they can envision a more prosperous future — one that their 35-29 record in the second half might indicate is not far away. 

“It’s visible that we’re building toward something special,” Langeliers said. “We have that core group here, guys that are performing and only getting better.” 

Added Kurtz: “This team could be as good as we want to.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

 

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LOS ANGELES – Twelve months ago, on the same stage he found himself back atop Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw was beckoned to the dais by his teammates and coaches. 

His ailing body had not allowed him to contribute much to the team’s 2024 title run, but the Dodgers knew the future Hall of Famer deserved the moment, and the tears in his eyes displayed what it meant to him. So moved by the gesture, and the euphoria of winning his first full-season championship, Kershaw exclaimed to a fanbase that had lived and died with all of his spectacular successes and gut-wrenching failures over 17 seasons with the team that he was a “Dodger for life.”  

One year later, Kershaw could not have written a better storybook ending to a legendary 18-year career. 

Forty-six days after Kershaw announced his impending retirement, 36 days after the end of a regular season in which the Dodgers needed their all-time strikeout leader more than they could have possibly imagined and seven days after the 37-year-old lefty navigated his club out of a bases-loaded jam by retiring the only batter he faced in the World Series, Kershaw was the last player with a microphone in his hand at the Dodgers’ second straight championship celebration Monday in Los Angeles. 

“Last year, I said I was a Dodger for life,” Kershaw told the crowd. “Today, that’s true. And today, I get to say that I’m a champion for life. And that’s never going away.” 

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has long discussed his intention of making this the golden era of Dodgers baseball. 

With their second straight World Series title and third in the last six years cementing a dynasty, that era is here. 

“I think, definitionally, it’s a dynasty,” Friedman said. “But that to me, in a lot of ways, kind of caps it, if you say, ‘OK, this is what it is.’ For me, it’s still evolving and growing, and we want to add to it, and we want to continue it and do everything we can to put it at a level where people after us have a hard time reaching.” 

In 2020, the Dodgers ended a 32-year championship drought. In 2024, another World Series win silenced the naysayers who tried to downplay the significance of their short-season title. Afterward, 42,468 fans packed Dodger Stadium to celebrate in a way they couldn’t after the COVID-shortened season. 

The team’s recent history of success did not temper the city’s revelry this year, as evidenced by the 52,703 cheering fans in attendance Monday at Dodger Stadium, where the team’s parade route ended after double-decker buses navigated the players and coaches through the streets of downtown L.A.

“For it to match the experience we had last year was incredible,” Friedman said, “and it really is a fuel that will push us to do everything we can to do it again and three-peat.”

That was the prevailing theme of Monday’s celebration. 

“What’s better than two?” manager Dave Roberts exclaimed to the crowd, in a nod to his friend Pat Riley. “Three! Three-peat! Three-peat! Let’s go!” 

One by one, the Dodgers’ players of prominence got their turn with the microphone. No one got a louder pop than World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who earned the admiration of a city by pitching on back-to-back days to earn wins in Game 6 and 7. After shouldering the weight of his team’s season, his MVP trophy was too heavy to lift. On Monday, though, he said his arm survived. 

On stage, Will Smith and Miguel Rojas, two of the other heroes of Game 7 in Toronto, shared a hug. Smith is a reminder of a record Dodgers payroll that energized the L.A. fanbase and agitated 29 others. Rojas, a 36-year-old part-time player near the end of his career, is an example of the depth required beyond the stars to finish off a World Series title. 

“It’s about everybody in this organization doing what they need to do when their name is called,” said Rojas, who singled out a litany of players and plays that allowed the biggest moment of his career to eventually find him. 

Others were more boisterous about the team’s latest success. 

“My teammates have been pretty humble,” said Kiké Hernández. “But I think it’s time to talk that s—. Everybody’s been asking questions about a dynasty. How about three in six years? How about a back-to-back? Yes, we’re a mother-effin’ dynasty, baby.” 

In the end, that can’t be questioned, even though it took more than most anticipated to get to this point. The Dodgers were not the juggernaut many envisioned. As injuries accumulated, their 93 wins were their fewest since 2018. Their offense was volatile. Their bullpen was abominable. Roberts navigated the team through its shortcomings, extracting everything he could from his starting pitchers to get the job done. 

The Blue Jays outscored the Dodgers in the World Series and scored 33 more runs than them over the course of the postseason, despite playing in just one more game. They were two outs away from ending the Dodgers’ repeat bid. 

But the Dodgers outlasted them. 

And in the immediate aftermath of becoming the first back-to-back winners in 25 years, they’re already looking ahead. 

Mookie Betts, who now has four World Series rings, said he’s ready to fill his hand up. Shohei Ohtani, who has won titles in each of his first two years with the Dodgers, told the crowd in English that he’s “ready to get another.” 

Added Freddie Freeman: “Job in 2024, done. Job in 2025, done. Job in 2026, starts now.” 

Freeman is still waiting for the team’s latest success to sink in. Last year, the 2024 World Series MVP said it took about a month for that to happen. In the meantime, all he can focus on is preparing for 2026, when the Dodgers will attempt to become the first team to three-peat since the Yankees from 1998-2000. 

“That’s the thing, we’re not trying to do something that another team did,” Freeman said. “We’re just trying to win every single year. That’s why we do it. I’m gonna take probably three days off before working out again and getting ready for 2026. That’s what we do. We want to win. That’s why we play this game.”

Only one player on the championship stage won’t have to think about that grind again. 

A World Series title in 2020 brought Kershaw relief. Another in 2024 brought him to tears. The latest sent the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader out on top, with his family next to him on the championship stage. 

“It’s beyond words,” Kershaw said. “Today’s so special. I mean, you can’t really script it any better.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Why does Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who enters Friday night’s elimination Game 6 of the World Series with the weight of the Dodgers’ season on his shoulders, seem to love these kinds of pressure-packed moments? 

“To be honest,” Yamamoto said Wednesday night through his interpreter, “I don’t know why.” 

One answer, if you’d posit the question to his coaches and teammates, is confidence.

It’s the word that comes up most often when they’re asked what looks different about Yamamoto this year compared to last, when he was first making the transition from Japan to Major League Baseball. 

“It’s hard to really put yourself in these guys’ shoes when they’re changing leagues, changing countries, changing cultures,” Galen Carr, the Dodgers vice president of player personnel, told me last October, hours before Yamamoto delivered 6.1 innings of one-run ball in his lone World Series start against the Yankees. “Everything about it is different — the ball, the mound, the schedule, the travel.”

That World Series appearance against the Yankees was a sign of what Yamamoto could be, but it took time for him to develop into what the Dodgers have now, the unquestioned ace of the most overpowering rotation in the playoff field. 

Yamamoto is coming off back-to-back postseason complete games, the first a one-run effort that helped the Dodgers sweep the Brewers in the NLCS, the latest another one-run effort in Toronto in which he retired the last 20 batters he faced against a Blue Jays offense that leads all teams this postseason in every slash line category. 

His pinpoint command and vast arsenal allow him to go where few pitchers can. In his complete game in Toronto, he used his splitter most often his first time through the lineup, his four-seamer most often his second time through and his curveball most often the third time through before returning primarily to his devastating splitter the fourth time through. 

“He’s unique because he’s got what seems like six or seven pitches, and can kind of morph into different pitchers as the game goes on,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “You have to be ready to hit, and you have to be stubborn with what kind of swings you’re taking.” 

As impressive as his production has been, it’s what Yamamoto nearly did after his last World Series start that might have been even more staggering. 

In the Dodgers’ 18-inning win in Game 3, two days after he threw 105 pitches, he convinced his coaches he could take the ball if the game went another inning. So he trotted out to the bullpen and began getting warm. Afterward, even Blue Jays players took note of Yamamoto’s effort, which did not surprise his teammates. 

“He’s my favorite player,” reliever Justin Wrobleski told me. “He’s the man. He’s just a dog. He does things that not a lot of people would do, and he wants to win.” 

That’s the kind of player the Dodgers want on the mound with their season on the brink. 

“Right guy at the right time,” said Kiké Hernández. “We know that Yoshi’s going to show up.”

It’s incumbent upon the Dodgers’ lineup to do the same after scoring two runs in a Game 4 loss, one run in a Game 5 loss and four runs over their last 29 innings. But even if they don’t break out from their funk, Yamamoto’s presence on the mound provides an added sense of comfort that they’ll always have a chance. 

He’s the first pitcher to throw back-to-back postseason complete games since Curt Schilling in 2001 and the first Dodger to do it since Orel Hershiser, who threw three straight complete games in the 1988 postseason to help his club capture a World Series title. 

A similar effort again from Yamamoto in Game 6 would both save the Dodgers’ season and move them one game away from becoming the first team to repeat as champions in 25 years. 

“He just became the guy, the horse, kind of like everybody knew he was going to be,” said Miguel Rojas.

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Rojas said Yamamoto is “built different,” primarily in reference to the pitcher’s past. Yamamoto earned a $325 million commitment from the Dodgers due to his extraordinary work in Japan, where he won three MVPs and three Sawamura Awards, Japan’s equivalent to the Cy Young. 

In 2022, he found himself in a similar situation as he does now, pitching in Game 6 of Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of the World Series. Yamamoto bounced back from a Game 1 clunker in the Japan Series, rebounding with a 138-pitch, 14-strikeout complete game gem for the Orix Buffaloes, who ultimately won the championship. 

He carried that resolve and ability to bounce back from mistakes stateside. 

After getting annihilated by the Padres in his big-league debut last March — the Dodgers maintained belief that things would progress, but it was an ominous sign after handing him the richest contract ever for a pitcher before he’d thrown a single pitch in the big leagues — they got to him again in Game 1 of the NLDS. But in the deciding Game 5 of a series the Dodgers now look back on as a franchise turning point, Yamamoto responded with five scoreless innings in victory. 

Just as it was for his team, last October was a turning point for Yamamoto, too. 

The pitcher who arrived stateside last year did not look quite so certain of himself early on. He finished his rookie year last year with a 3.00 ERA, but his command wavered as he dealt with a different baseball and a new league, he struggled to routinely go deep into starts, and a shoulder injury cost him nearly three months.

But after rising to the occasion for a shorthanded rotation in last year’s postseason, Yamamoto entered the 2025 season in a new form. 

“He’s standing a little bit taller,” Roberts told me back in April. “I really do see it. I know that’s figurative, but he’s standing taller.”

In May, he took one no-hitter into the sixth inning and another into the seventh. In September, he came one out away from a no-hitter, the first of three straight games in which he allowed just one hit. 

Over his last nine starts dating back to Aug. 31 — regular season and postseason combined — he has a 1.15 ERA. 

In his last five postseason starts, going back to that Game 2 effort in last year’s World Series, he has a 1.54 ERA. 

“You just can’t lose on nights that Yamamoto throws,” Roberts said earlier this year.

If that happens Friday, the Dodgers’ season is over. With their man on the mound, they’re confident it won’t. 

Yamamoto has carried the weight of his country on his shoulders at the World Baseball Classic, and he has carried the weight of his team in both the Japan Series and World Series. 

It is with these moments in mind that he prepares his body, training in unorthodox ways under the guidance of Osamu Yada — “Yada Sensei,” as he is known. It is why he throws all those javelins between starts, why he does all those stretches, why he contorts his body to perfect his flexibility. 

It is all to be ready for this. 

“I have to just get myself ready,” Yamamoto said. “And then, only one thing we have to do is just win.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — On a field of weary ballplayers following last night’s epic 18-inning marathon, what Shohei Ohtani is attempting to accomplish in Game 4 of the World Series stands alone.

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One night ago, Ohtani reached base all nine times up to bat, setting another postseason record in the process. Seventeen hours later, Ohtani will take the mound for the first time since striking out 10 in six scoreless innings and homering three times to send the Dodgers to the World Series. 

“I’m sure he’ll set another record or something,” posited Mookie Betts. 

If he does that again, it will take a herculean effort, even by Ohtani’s standards. 

By the time Ohtani tied a World Series record with his fourth extra-base hit in Game 3, there were still 11 more innings to play. He legged out a double twice and trotted leisurely around the bases on home runs two other times. He was caught stealing in the ninth, then cramped up two innings later after touching second base for the sixth time, requiring a visit from the trainer. He would stay in, getting three more free passes before night’s end. 

And now, he’ll take on two-way duties. 

“This guy is a different kind of athlete and a different brain,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“I don’t know how he does it,” said Max Muncy. “Every time he goes out there and pitches, I kind of look at him and the first thought that comes to my head is, ‘That guy must sleep really good at night.’ It’s a lot of effort just to play the game and to pitch on top of that. You look at the pitchers when they come out of the games and they’re just dripping sweat, dead tired, and, oh, he’s got to go out and hit again. He’s a special breed.”

Sleep was all Ohtani was thinking about after his latest record-setting effort in Game 3. It was easier for some than others, coming off the adrenaline rush of Freddie Freeman’s walk-off blast that ended a six-hour, 39-minute clash. 

“I think everyone’s certainly different,” Roberts told me. “I took a little sleep aid … and woke up with clarity, freshness, and excited to go tonight.”

Despite the wear and tear, Roberts said Ohtani also woke up feeling good Tuesday morning. Knowing what he has put his body through, and after carefully handling his build-up all year as he returned to the mound following his second major elbow reconstruction, the Dodgers will read and react to how Ohtani looks. 

“No expectations, just kind of see how he feels, how he looks, and then go from there,” Roberts said. “Obviously, last night was taxing on both clubs’ pens, but it’s kind of an all-hands-on-deck situation. You kind of figure out who is available and who feels good enough to pitch tonight.”

It’s fair to assume Will Klein, who threw the final four innings for the Dodgers as he emerged as an unlikely World Series protagonist, will be down Tuesday for the Dodgers. There are few other assurances on either side. 

“In terms of second wind…it’s just wake up, get ready to do it again,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. 

Game 3’s heavyweight bout demonstrated how quickly plans can change this time of year. By night’s end, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was in the home bullpen preparing to enter had a 19th inning been required, just two days after he threw a complete game.

Blake Snell, who is slated to start Game 5, told pitching coach Mark Prior he was also good if needed. When he saw Yamamoto going to the bullpen, he figured he might be next in line. But Snell had already thrown his bullpen earlier that day, and Roberts was going to avoid that scenario. The Dodgers manager said if Yamamoto couldn’t have gone, position player Miguel Rojas was going to take the mound.

Luckily for them, Freeman’s swing prevented any of those decisions having to be made. 

“I’m very thankful Yama didn’t have to go out there, and I didn’t have to get ready, and we were able to win in the 18th,” Snell told me.

Ohtani may be taking on more than everyone else, as he so often does, but everyone who took part in last night’s game will have the extra challenge of trying to bounce back from 18 high-stress innings of baseball.

Both members of the Dodgers’ battery will be worth keeping an eye on. 

Will Smith caught each of the 18 innings last night for the Dodgers, earning the respect of even his competitors in the process. 

“When I caught, I felt it after the 7th inning,” said Isiah Kiner-Falefa. “So for Will to be back there all 18, I mean, that was very impressive. That’s why he’s one of the top catchers in the league.”

Smith is back behind the plate again in Game 4. Roberts texted his catcher Tuesday morning just to make sure he was feeling OK. Smith responded affirmatively. 

“It’s the World Series,” Betts said. “If you can’t get up for that, you probably need to find another job.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
 

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LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman knows this moment, this feeling, better than anyone. He understands the magnitude and the repercussions because he has lived them. A year ago, his walk-off grand slam to begin the 2024 World Series etched his name into Dodgers lore and his image into the minds and even onto the bodies of die-hard fans who wanted a permanent reminder of a swing that would live on forever. Some of them have since asked Freeman to sign their tattoos. One fan told Freeman that he was so moved by the experience of being present in the building with his kids for that historic occasion, he gave up drinking. 

“You can change peoples’ lives,” Freeman realized then, “and create memories.” 

On Monday night, back at Dodger Stadium on baseball’s biggest stage, at the end of one of the wildest games in World Series history, Freeman created more. 

This time it was a solo shot, not a grand slam. It came in the 18th inning, not the 10th. But in the first Dodgers home game of the 2025 World Series, Freeman did it again.

He became the first player in MLB history with multiple walk-off home runs in the Fall Classic when he ended Game 3, a six-hour, 39-minute marathon against the Blue Jays, with a 406-foot blast to center field, giving the Dodgers a 6-5 win and putting his team ahead 2-1 in the series. 

“To have it happen again a year later, to hit another walk-off, it’s kind of amazing,” Freeman said. “Crazy.” 

Tyler Glasnow threw the first pitch at 5:11 p.m. PT and Freeman hit the last one at 11:50, put both hands in the air as he rounded the bases, then disappeared into a familiar mob at home plate as Monday night bled into Tuesday morning. 

“He’s the guy you want up,” said Clayton Kershaw. “Freddie just keeps taking the moment.” 

There were so many people to celebrate in the aftermath of Freeman’s latest World Series achievement, the Dodgers didn’t know what to do. Shohei Ohtani, who set a postseason record and tied an MLB record for any game by reaching base nine times, lifted his arms out wide as he ran toward left field to embrace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who ran in to greet him from the bullpen. 

Yamamoto had thrown a complete game just two days prior. But as the innings piled up, he saw the trajectory of the game. He approached his coaches and told them he was ready. He began warming up, preparing to enter if the game went to the 19th. 

“He’s my favorite player,” Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski told me afterward. “He’s the man. He’s just a dog. He does things that not a lot of people would do, and he wants to win. He’s a quiet dude, but he wants to win.”

So did the last pitcher to throw a pitch for the Dodgers, the 25-year-old journeyman who bought time for Freeman’s final heroics.  

Reliever Will Klein did not make the roster for any previous series this October. He was traded from the Royals to the A’s last year, from the A’s to the Mariners in January, and from the Mariners to the Dodgers in June. He had not thrown more than 45 pitches in a game this year prior to Game 3. 

But he was the last man standing in a bullpen that had been emptied after 14 innings. 

“I was just going to go until I couldn’t,” said Klein, who never could have imagined he’d find himself where he was Monday night. “There were times when, like, you’re starting to feel down and you feel your legs aren’t there or your arm’s not there, and you’ve just got to be, like, ‘Well, who else is going to come save me?’”

Klein went four scoreless innings on 72 pitches to finish off the win. He hadn’t thrown that many pitches in a game since college. By the time he got back to the clubhouse and checked his phone, he hadn’t seen that many notifications in his life. Klein had even earned the admiration of Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who stopped by the Dodgers’ clubhouse in part to congratulate him. 

“In the postseason, people talk about the superstars,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But a lot of times it’s these unsung heroes that you just can’t expect.” 

Right after mobbing Freeman at the plate, many of the Dodgers’ stars then turned their attention to Klein. It was a moment he won’t forget. 

“I never dreamed that anything like this would happen,” Klein said. “So, just having the guys like Kersh, Freddie, Shohei, Mookie [Betts], all those guys kind of celebrating me for a second there was just insane. I don’t think I could have dreamed a dream that good.” 

“I don’t know how many times you see a guy hit a walk-off home run and the whole team is jumping around the pitcher,” added Max Muncy. “But he deserved it. For that performance he put on, he deserved every bit of that.” 

The game had a little of everything. There were bad sends and flawless relays, terrific throws and baserunning blunders, majestic moonshots and agonizing errors, two maligned bullpens putting up a full game’s worth of zeroes and baseball’s behemoths going blow for blow. Every slip-up seemed to be remedied innings later by something extraordinary. 

In the fourth, Tommy Edman let a potential double-play grounder get under his glove, putting runners at the corners with nobody out to set up a go-ahead three-run homer from Alejandro Kirk. But Edman also later helped save the game in the ninth inning, when he tracked down a liner that tipped off Freeman’s glove, turned and fired across the diamond to get Isiah Kiner-Falefa attempting to go first to third. And again in the 10th, when Edman retrieved a throw in the right-field corner from Teoscar Hernández, then fired home in time to get Davis Schneider at the plate on an ill-advised send from third-base coach Carlos Febles. Seven innings prior, the Dodgers had a similarly poor send that ended with Freeman tagged out at the plate. 

Momentum shifted swiftly, at least for seven innings, before the offenses wore down. 

“The bat starts feeling pretty heavy,” Muncy said. 

“It pretty much drains you completely,” added Betts. 

There were 19 pitchers used, the most ever in a postseason game. The Dodgers used 10, the most ever in a single World Series game. Glasnow, Anthony Banda, Wrobleski and Blake Treinen, Jack Dreyer and Roki Sasaki combined to throw the first nine for the Dodgers. Emmet Sheehan, Kershaw and World Series additions Edgardo Henriquez and Klein took down the last nine. 

“The innings I pitched were no longer on the scoreboard,” said Wrobleski, who entered in the sixth. “That’s probably the craziest thing, when you look up and those innings aren’t there anymore. It’s a little weird, but it’s the best game I’ve been a part of.” 

By the time Klein entered in the 15th, Wrobleski assumed what everyone else did. 

“We’ve all kind of been there in that spot where it’s like, ‘Yeah, dude, you’re probably going to have to eat it here,’” Wrobleski told me. “Hats off to Klein. That was incredible.” 

By the 16th, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. began snacking on an apple. Earlier in the night, he smiled as he rounded third on a Bo Bichette single that ricocheted off the wall down the first-base line, then slapped his hand on home plate before Dodgers catcher Will Smith could apply the tag. It gave the Blue Jays a go-ahead run in the seventh before Ohtani’s second home run of the night evened the score in the bottom of the frame. It was Ohtani’s eighth home run of the playoffs, tying him with Corey Seager for the most in a single postseason in franchise history. 

From there, 11 straight scoreless innings followed. It seemed like days had passed since Glasnow and Max Scherzer took the mound to start the game. 

A fruit tray appeared in the home dugout in the 18th. By then, Ohtani had already reached base nine times, a feat no player has accomplished in a game since Stan Hack in 1942. Ohtani’s night started with a ground-rule double, a home run, an RBI double and another home run in his first four at-bats, making him the first player in over 100 years to record four extra-base hits in a World Series game. 

He still had five more plate appearances to go. He was given a free pass in each of them, including a postseason record four intentional walks. Blue Jays manager John Schneider was not going to let Ohtani beat him. 

That decision was prudent, as the hitters behind Ohtani consistently failed to deliver. The Dodgers won despite going 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and leaving 18 runners on base. 

The Blue Jays also had their chances. 

One of the best came in the 12th, when they loaded the bases on Sheehan, who was running out of gas with two outs. Roberts called on Kershaw, who threw his fastest pitch of the year — 91.9 mph — before getting an inning-ending groundout on a 3-2 slider, cutting the tension and allowing 52,654 fans in attendance to exhale a collective sigh of relief. They understand that any Kershaw appearance could be his last, though the lefty claimed that’s not going through his mind when he’s on the mound. 

“I’m just trying to get that guy out,” Kershaw said. “But yeah, I mean, after the fact, it’s a lot of fun to have success when you know you’re close.” 

In the 14th, Smith thought he ended the game when he connected with a 93-mph Eric Lauer fastball and drove it 383 feet out to center and 101.5 mph off the bat, only to then see it die at the wall along with the anticipation of everyone in attendance. The marine layer had swooped in. Similar swings followed, including a 383-foot flyout in the 16th from Hernandez.  

The 18-inning marathon was the longest World Series affair since Game 3 of the 2018 Fall Classic, which also went 18 innings and ended with a Dodgers walk-off home run. 

The man who hit that one against the Red Sox, Max Muncy, was due up third in the 18th inning on Monday night. 

“As it started going on, it was starting to feel like déjà vu for me,” Muncy said. “I kind of thought the stars were starting to align again.”

It would not get to that point, as Freeman, who had a 379-foot flyout in the 13th and a 358-foot flyout in the 15th, finally got all of one. He has now homered seven times in his last 10 World Series games. 

“It’s one of the greatest World Series games of all time,” Roberts said. “Emotional. I’m spent, emotionally.”

It counted for only one win, but it felt like so much more, especially considering the cascading effect that the pitching moves will have with three straight days of games in Los Angeles. 

Both teams did, however, manage to avoid using any of their upcoming starters. Ohtani, 18 hours after another record-setting day at the plate, will take the mound against Shane Bieber in Game 4. 

“I don’t know how many teams can say their starting pitcher was on base nine times in a row the night before,” Muncy said. “It’s a special breed. I don’t know how he does it.”

Said Ohtani: “I want to go to sleep as soon as possible.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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Clayton Kershaw, preparing for the final three games at the stadium he has called home for the entirety of his 18-year Hall of Fame career, is at peace with his decision to move on to the next phase of life. 

Meanwhile, the end is nowhere in sight for the 41-year-old who was drafted four picks after Kershaw back in 2006.

The fire still burns in Max Scherzer, who will take the ball in Game 3 looking to get the Blue Jays back in the driver’s seat against Kershaw’s Dodgers in the World Series. 

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Like Kershaw, Scherzer is no longer the dominant force he was when he won three Cy Young Awards in the 2010s. But if there were any doubt about whether Scherzer’s nickname is still an apt sobriquet, “Mad Max” answered it his last time out. 

“I thought he was going to kill me,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “It was great.”

Schneider had been waiting all year for a moment like Game 4 of the ALCS, when he had the gall to trot out to Scherzer’s mound with two outs in the fifth inning. “Mad Max” looked incredulous, unable to believe anyone would dare even think about taking the ball from him in that situation. 

“I think that’s just Scherz,” Kershaw said. “I don’t know if that’s old or new school. That’s always been him, you know?” 

When Scherzer took the mound for that start, three weeks had passed since his last appearance. He was 0-3 in September with an ERA over 10.00. He did not make the ALDS roster. And yet, Schneider still went to him staring at a 2-1 deficit in the ALCS. This was what the Blue Jays paid him $15.5 million to do. 

“I understood where the game state was, knew how I wanted to attack, and then all of a sudden I saw Schneids coming out, and I kind of went, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ like, I’m not coming out of this ballgame,” Scherzer explained afterward. “So, we had a little conversation that basically I wanted to stay in the ballgame, but just with some other words involved.”

So Schneider left him in. 

“He locked eyes with me, both colors, as I walked out,” Schneider said. “It’s not fake. That’s the thing. It’s not fake. He has this ‘Mad Max’ persona, but he backed it up.”

Scherzer rewarded his manager by striking out Randy Arozarena to escape the frame. He slammed his glove in celebration, returned to the dugout, then supplied two more outs in the sixth, too, helping the Blue Jays even the series. 

“I think at that point, there’s numbers, there’s projections, there’s strategy, and there’s people,” Schneider said. “So, I was trusting people. In that moment, you kind of relive every conversation I’ve had with him over the course of the year, and I trusted him to make pitches. I was joking with him, I’ve been waiting for that moment since our Zoom call in the offseason before we signed him.”

‘They’re Both Intense’

The manager in the other dugout at the World Series can relate. 

Four years ago, the Dodgers were in need of rotation help when they traded for Scherzer at the deadline. Dave Roberts’ experience with the intensity of Kershaw helped prepare him for coaching Scherzer. 

“I think that they’re both intense,” Roberts said in August. “But I think that Max is a little bit more demonstrative in the pen, in the game, with the intensity, with his coaches and teammates. I recall not even being able to pat him on the backside in the middle of the game.” 

For most of his tenure as a Dodger, Scherzer was electric. He earned a curtain call in his first outing with the team, striking out 10 Astros batters, and went 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 11 starts after the trade. He recorded his 3,000th strikeout with the team that September. Kershaw would follow four years later, becoming the 20th member of the esteemed club. 

“I think it’s really cool that Scherzer’s the guy right before me to get to 3,000,” Kershaw said. “I got to play with him, got to compete against him, basically our whole careers.”

But the symbiotic relationship between Scherzer and the Dodgers soured late during his tenure with the club. 

Scherzer struck out 10 in Game 3 of the 2021 NLDS against the Giants, then was adamant he could pitch in relief in Game 5. His scoreless inning on two days of rest earned him the save and sent the Dodgers to the NLCS, but it came with a cost. Three days later, he went just 4.1 innings in defeat and bemoaned that his arm was “overcooked.” 

Scherzer, who was the same age at the time that Kershaw is now, did not want to risk pushing past his physical limit. He was scratched from the deciding Game 6, forcing Walker Buehler to go on short rest in a loss that ended the Dodgers’ season. It didn’t sit well with some in the clubhouse — or with a fanbase that will likely let Scherzer hear it on Monday. 

A month later, Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million deal with the Mets. He left Queens ahead of the trade deadline in 2023, joining the Texas Rangers. Scherzer was dinged up going into that postseason and finished with a 6.52 ERA in limited action during that playoff run, but he contributed three scoreless innings in a Game 3 World Series win en route to his second ring. A year later, injuries limited him to just nine starts in his final season in Texas. 

While with the Mets, Scherzer developed a relationship with pitcher Chris Bassitt. Last offseason, the two had conversations about what Toronto needed. Scherzer was convinced the team “could really go somewhere.” At 41, after all, he only gets so many more of these chances. The decision has led him back to the sport’s pinnacle, as he gets ready to start Game 3 of the World Series for the second time in three years. 

On a Blue Jays team that hadn’t made the World Series since 1993 — and hadn’t gotten beyond a wild-card round since 2016 — Scherzer’s experience sets him apart. This will be his 27th career postseason start and fourth Fall Classic. Compare that with Toronto’s World Series Game 1 starter, Trey Yesavage, a 22-year-old who had made all of three big-league starts before the postseason. With the series going back to Los Angeles, Scherzer’s manager trusted the moment and the stage would not get too big for Scherzer.

“That’s kind of why we lined him up for tomorrow, without having too much of a layoff from a rest standpoint,” Schneider told me. “You feel good that he’s going to be able to absorb the situation, the atmosphere, what comes with it, and then kind of get to competing and locating.”

Two Hall of Famers, Now World Series Foes

The last time Scherzer pitched at Dodger Stadium was Aug. 8. Fittingly, that start came against Kershaw, 17 years after the first battle between the two future Hall of Famers. Scherzer allowed two runs in six innings, but that wasn’t enough to best Kershaw, who surrendered just one run in six innings in a 5-1 Dodgers win. 

One month later, Kershaw announced this year would be his last. Two months later, Kershaw and Scherzer find their careers intertwined again as World Series foes. 

“It’s cool that we both get to be here in this moment,” Kershaw said. “Heck, I should probably talk to him. He’s still throwing 95 [mph] over there, you know. So, you know, he’s still got a few years left in the tank, probably, if he wants it.”

If you just compared their 2025 seasons, you might assume their roles would be reversed. Scherzer tallied a career-worst 5.19 ERA in 85 innings during the regular season; Kershaw, meanwhile, went 11-2 with a 3.36 ERA.  

For almost any other team, Kershaw would likely be starting one of these upcoming games. But on a staff with Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow, a quartet that has amassed an 8-2 record and a 1.84 ERA this postseason, Kershaw has been relegated to relief duties. Like Scherzer, he has only made one appearance this October. 

“[Kershaw] has handled this last month with class, professionalism,” Roberts said. “All the while, he’s always said that he wants to do anything he can to help the team. He’s followed through on that. All the stuff, finishing out the season and how everything kind of played out, was a lot on his plate. He handled it with grace. And then the kind of uncertainty of role going to the pen, he’s just fallen in line.” 

The job responsibilities are unusual for the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader, but his presence remains valued. And if the Dodgers needed any more motivation to repeat, sending Kershaw out with a third championship is among the rallying cries. 

“That’s never a bad thing to happen, when we have something that we can say, ‘OK, let’s do it for Kersh,’” Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas told me last month. “That kind of takes away from the pressure that you can apply on your own, feeling like you’re doing it for your teammate.”

Scherzer, meanwhile, has given no indications that he plans to call it quits after this year. 

His body won’t always cooperate, but the fire still burns in Mad Max. Ahead of another World Series start, “having too much fun” to think about the end. 

“I absolutely respect playing in a World Series, what that means, and absolutely cherish these opportunities,” Scherzer said. “So, yeah, when I get a chance to get the ball, man, this means everything.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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