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Blue Jays vs Dodgers: Gausman and Yamamoto deliver a ‘Hollywood’ duel in World Series Game 2
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Nick Prasad
Oct 26, 2025, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 26, 2025, 18:17 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays sent their ace pitcher, Kevin Gausman, to the hill in a “Hollywood” match-up against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the 2025 World Series. 
Both World Series game two starters were very important factors within their respective starting rotations, and both pitchers were major contributors in their teams getting to the fall classic.

Kevin Gausman 

Gausman pitched well for the majority of his outing against the Dodgers. His first inning was about establishing his fastball, which he did. Freddie Freeman stroked a double in the first inning and later scored on a Will Smith single, putting the Dodgers up early. 
After the first inning, Gausman sailed through the Dodgers’ lineup, utilizing his four-seam fastball with solid command. The fastball cuts into right-handed hitters, jamming most bats and missing barrels. He threw 49 four-seam fastballs, only 4 sliders, and 29 splitters. 
He worked on and off the zone, keeping his fastball choked on the inside and the splitter low, off the knees. 45 pitches were in the zone, 37 pitches were out of the zone, forcing 39 swings, and 43 takes. 
Gausman’s seventh inning was the “blink” moment. He missed middle-in with a fastball against Will Smith, who took the pitch over the left-field wall for a home run. In the same inning, the same type of pitch was offered to Max Muncy, who shot it over the same area for an opposite-field shot. 
Before the seventh inning, Gausman had retired 17 straight Dodgers hitters. He finished the game with 6 and  2/3 innings of work, allowing four hits, three earned runs, six strikeouts, two home runs, 82 total pitches, and 59 strikes. This was his longest outing of the postseason. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The Blue Jays had not faced Yamamoto this season; this was their first look. When healthy this season, his performance was stellar, and continued into Game 2 of the 2025 World Series. 
The word “dominant” gets thrown around a lot; however, Yamamoto amended the definition of the word in his start last night. He kept Blue Jays hitters on their toes, off-balance, and a bit confused. His composure is one of his biggest traits, and the repetition of his delivery was present. Where Yamamoto succeeds is in his sequencing, and he’s done that with emphasis. Once again, the splitter was the point of focus for both pitchers.
The first inning was a warmup for Yamamoto, as the hot George Springer led off with a double. He allowed two hits that inning with runners threatening, but nothing transpired. A seven-pitch at-bat against Vladimir Guerrero Jr ended in a strikeout, swinging at a curveball at 80 mph. He saw five splitters, one fastball, and one curveball. It was one of the best moments to tag on runs for the Jays, and Yamamoto held his ground. This set the tone for the rest of the game. 
The only run the Jays were able to salvage was in the third inning, where Alejandro Kirk generated a sacrifice fly to score George Springer. He finished with a 105-pitch complete game. 
The Dodgers starter threw 34 splitters, more than any other pitch. He threw 25 fastballs, 23 curveballs, and mixed in a few cutters, sliders, and sinkers. Yamamoto’s velocity fluctuated well, up to 97.9 mph, and down to 74-77 mph on off-speed options. 
55 of his pitches were thrown in the zone, 50 were out of the zone. He forced 56 swings, allowing 39 contact pitches. Yamamoto kept the Blue Jays’ swing and miss rate at 30.4% in game two. His complete game win is for the books. 

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