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The Blue Jays are looking for their third World Series title tonight, while the Dodgers are hoping to force a Game 7.
The game is scoreless in the second inning. Follow along for updates and analysis from The Athletic’s team of MLB reporters in Game 6.
Kevin Gausman is getting to two strikes immediately, too. Putting so much pressure on the Dodgers lineup so far.
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▶️ Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets Bo Bichette to chase and strike out to start the second inning. A tight, hard-breaking curveball results in the Bichette strikeout. Here is Daulton Varsho with one out. | Bottom 2nd Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
Thinking back to what blog contributor Bobby Scales said before the Dodgers faced Trey Yesavage: "(He) needs to throw that splitter for a strike tonight. If I’m the Dodgers, cut the bottom of the zone off, and if he dots three heaters at the bottom then I’m out."
It's been apparent early the Dodgers are hunting fastballs against Kevin Gausman, who has now struck out five of six – all on his splitter. We'll see if they're able to make the adjustment.
Kevin Gausman’s splitter? That thing’s dancing tonight.
Opponents hit .181 against Kevin Gausman's splitter in the regular season. Only two pitchers generated a higher run value than Gausman's plus-9 with their splitters: Jhoan Duran (plus-13) and Nathan Eovaldi (plus-11.)
Fourth on that list? None other than Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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▶️ Six up, six down for Kevin Gausman. He gets Max Muncy to swing and miss for Gausman’s fifth strikeout of the game. What a start for the Blue Jays ace. To the bottom half of the second! | Bottom 2nd Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
Back to that Max Muncy misplay, that can happen sometimes with domed/indoor stadiums, where the lights are lower and can be right in the line of sight for position players.
▶️ Boom! That is strikeout number four for Kevin Gausman. He blanks Teoscar Hernandez inside, who swings and misses on the splitter. Two out for Max Muncy. | Top 2nd Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
▶️ Mookie Betts’ struggles continue in the World Series. He grounds out to Ernie Clement at third base. Here comes former Blue Jays player Teoscar Hernandez up to bat with one out. | Top 2nd Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
Splitters are still on the rise, and errors are still on the decline. Teams committed an average of only 0.5 errors per game in 2025, the lowest in major-league history. Perhaps that's a credit to fielders. More likely, it's a reflection of changes in the world of official scoring.
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Well, there was no carryover for Max Muncy after flubbing that grounder from Nathan Lukes. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s hot grounder immediately found Muncy, and he turned an inning-ending double play.
It's going to be an uneasy start for a Dodgers team that's trailing with its back against the wall. But it's been a while since the Dodgers have really felt like they're playing downhill or on the attack.
To showcase how hot this building is running: The crowd reached 108 decibels on Lukes’ “single” under Max Muncy’s glove in the first. That’s the equivalent of starting up a chainsaw with no earplugs.
▶️ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounds into a double play to end the inning. Nathan Lukes’ hit, thanks to Max Muncy’s defensive mistake, was the only runner aboard for Toronto that inning. To the second we go. No score as Mookie Betts steps to the plate. | Top 2nd Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
George Springer kind of looks like he's in pain when he swings. But I thought the same thing last series before he won the Blue Jays the pennant.
George Springer looks like he’s been stabbed on every swing. He has a bruised wrist, a busted knee and a clearly injured side. He’s not even close to 100 percent. If he does something big tonight, it’ll be the kind of moment they talk about for a long time.
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▶️ The Dodgers' defensive miscues continue! What should've been a routine out for Max Muncy at third base, sneaks under his glove. Nathan Lukes is aboard. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. up to bat. | Bottom 1st Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
▶️ George Springer grounds out to shortstop. An extended at bat but it is clear that Springer is dealing with that right side discomfort. One out for Nathan Lukes. | Bottom 1st Dodgers 0, Blue Jays 0
Before the 2024 season, we wrote about the Year of the Splitter. Executives, coaches and pitchers themselves had been whispering about how pitch that was once a dark art — accused of hurting arms and thrown only by a select few outliers— seemed primed to become more mainstream.
Splitters are still somewhat rare. But as Kevin Gausman just showed, they can be devastating. They tend to be platoon neutral, pair well with high-vert fastballs and can generate high whiff rates.
The usage of splitters has increased slowly but steadily, from 2.2 percent in 2023 to 3.1 percent in 2024 and up to 3.3 percent in 2025, the highest percentage in the Statcast era.
And in the postseason?
With pitchers such as Gausman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani on full display, splitters have made up for 6.8 percent of all pitches entering this game — easily the highest percentage in the pitch-tracking era.