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This year's championship series is going to a final Game 7 after the Dodgers kept their title defense dreams alive Friday night with a 3–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6.

The defending champions ended Toronto’s ninth-inning rally with a dramatic final double play, stunning a Rogers Centre crowd that had come ready to cheer the city’s championship in over three decades.

Sixth Game Recap

Los Angeles generated all of their offense in the third inning. With two away, Shohei Ohtani was purposely passed before Will Smith hit a two-bagger to left field to bring home Tommy Edman. Freeman earned a base on balls to load the bases, and Betts came through with a two-RBI hit to left, giving the Dodgers a 3–0 advantage.

That key hit broke a postseason slump and rekindled the title holders' aspirations of being the initial back-to-back championship winners since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998 through 2000.

Mound Duel

Kevin Gausman had been nearly unhittable to that stage, fanning half a dozen of the first seven Dodgers he faced. He fanned 8 through three innings, tying a Fall Classic mark, but the third-frame rally proved decisive. The Toronto ace finished with eight strikeouts over six innings, yielding three earned runs on three hits and two free passes.

Yamamoto, meanwhile, was steady again under pressure. The 27-year-old right-hander outdueled Gausman for the second occasion in a seven days, allowing a single run on five hits over six frames with six strikeouts. He boosted his record to 4–1 this postseason with a 1.56 ERA.

The lone score against him came on Springer’s two-out single in the third inning, driving in Addison Barger, who had doubled previously in the frame. That single offered a momentary lift in his return to the lineup after sitting out a pair of contests with an oblique injury.

Relief Effort

After that, the Los Angeles relievers took over. Rookie Wrobleski got out of a tight spot in the seventh inning, and fellow rookie Sasaki worked into the ninth inning before hitting Alejandro Kirk to start the frame. Barger then hit a double that became wedged under the outfield wall, forcing runners to hold at second and third.

Glasnow, Los Angeles’ third game starting pitcher, came on in a relief role and induced a pop fly before Andrés Giménez hit a line drive to left. Hernández caught the ball and fired to second base to retire the runner, sealing the win and earning Glasnow his first career successful save.

Next Up: Game 7

The best-of-seven now boils down to a single contest. Max Scherzer will start for the Blue Jays, making him the sole active hurler to pitch in more than one seventh games of the World Series after doing so in the 2019 season with Washington. The 40-year-old signed a single-season contract to chase another championship and has been a outspoken presence throughout this postseason.

The Dodgers, aiming to be the sport's initial repeat champions in almost 25 years, are expected to lean on Shohei Ohtani for a short outing.