With two on and two out in Game 5's fourth inning, Tommy Edman took his best swing on a Trey Yesavage slider that stayed above the zone. Edman got just under it. The popup fell harmlessly into the glove of Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Andrés Giménez, halting an early threat against a budding ace who was just beginning to find his rhythm.
For weeks, the Los Angeles Dodgers' hitters had grown frustrated not just by an overall lack of production but by an inability to finish rallies. Edman's popup was merely the latest example. The Dodgers did not place another runner in scoring position Wednesday night, continuing a prolonged trend that has their season on the brink and many of their hitters confused.
Said Mookie Betts: "We've got to figure something out."
With the urgency rising and his patience lacking, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made relatively drastic changes to his lineup ahead of Game 5. Will Smith became the first catcher in 90 years to hit in the No. 2 spot in a World Series game, sliding Betts down to bat third for the first time since 2021. Alex Call replaced the No. 9-hitting Andy Pages, who had managed just four hits in 50 at-bats in these playoffs.
The changes did not work. The Dodgers struck out 12 times and managed just three hits in seven innings against Yesavage, losing a critical game and forcing themselves to have to win on back-to-back nights in Toronto to secure a championship.
On Wednesday, Yesavage's command was sharp, his slider was hellacious, but the Dodgers' struggles extend way beyond him. Since cruising past the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round, their hitters are slashing a combined .214/.306/.360 in 13 playoff games, during which they've produced a .544 OPS with runners in scoring position. The Dodgers' nine wins in that stretch are a testament to a starting rotation that is unfairly being asked to do it alone.
"It's hard for a pitching staff to have to go every game uphill," utility man Enrique Hernandez said. "We're not really doing much as an offense. Whenever we get a chance, we don't capitalize. We're going through one of those funks right now; it's just really bad timing to have those in the World Series."
The Dodgers suffered through a similar low point at midseason. From July 4 to Aug. 13, when they went 12-21 and blew an eight-game division lead, they batted .235 and scored the majors' sixth-fewest runs per game. Eventually, they got right. And though their regular season was generally underwhelming, the Dodgers approached October with the thought that their best baseball was ahead of them. It was a belief buoyed by their starting pitching, dominant enough to stifle any opposing lineup and deep enough to make up for most bullpen issues. But the offense was expected to perform.
It seemed like a given, until it wasn't.
"We've got a lot of guys who aren't hot right now," Edman said, "aren't feeling their best."
It starts at the top.
In Game 5, the Nos. 1-4 hitters in the Dodgers' lineup combined to go 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts. Shohei Ohtani has put together three masterful offensive performances -- homering twice in the playoff opener, clinching a pennant with a three-homer game and reaching base nine times in the 18-inning marathon earlier this week -- but he's 6-for-48 in 12 other playoff games. Freeman is batting .235 over the last three rounds. Betts is 3-for-23 in the World Series.
"I've just been terrible," Betts said. "I wish it were from lack of effort, but it's not."
And it's not just the three future Hall of Famers. It's Max Muncy (.188/.339/.354 postseason slash line). It's Pages (.215 OPS, the lowest ever for a player with at least 50 plate appearances in a single playoff). It's Enrique Hernández, one of history's most illustrious October performers (.844 career postseason OPS, but 4-for-26 over his past seven games).
In 123 innings since the wild-card round, the Dodgers have scored three or more runs just three times. And though hitting is significantly more difficult this time of year, their opponent is providing a snapshot of what is possible.
The Blue Jays have outscored the Dodgers by 11 runs in this series and by a whopping 36 runs in these playoffs, even though they've played just one more game.
"It doesn't feel great," Roberts said. "You clearly see those guys finding ways to get hits, move the baseball forward, and we're not doing a good job of it."
After a night in which the Dodgers got a solo home run and nothing else, ultimately taking just one at-bat with a runner in scoring position, Roberts stressed to his team the importance of adjusting -- of shortening up, hitting the ball the other way, working deep counts and getting the opposing bullpen more heavily involved.
"We gotta hit the ball," Muncy said. "You look at what they're doing, they put the ball in play a lot, and it's finding spots. We're not putting the ball in play a lot, and when we do, it seems to be finding the glove."
The Dodgers are striking out at a 25.3% rate in this series, a little more than three percentage points higher than they did during the regular season. Their chase rate is 28.6%, compared to 25.9% from March to September. It's an uptick, but not a seismic one, especially when you layer in the added difficulty of facing so many high-leverage arms in October. The biggest problem, some of their players believe, is they're caught in between -- passive at the wrong time, too aggressive on pitches they can't slug and generally not diligent enough with their approach.
"We just have to have a better selection of pitches that we want to swing at," Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. "We just have to get a better plan, not trying to do too much with the pitches that they throw. Every pitcher in the playoffs, he can make the best pitches and the best location that he can make, and we have to adjust to that and just try to do damage on the ones we can handle."
Late Wednesday night, as players gathered their belongings and prepared to board another cross-country flight to Toronto, many of them found hope in the rejuvenation of an off day. They know Rogers Centre will be rocking on Friday night, eager to celebrate the Blue Jays' first championship in 32 years, but they took solace in whom they had to counter it -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto, fresh off another nine-inning mastery.
They also know he can't do it alone.
"We've got a lot of confidence in him, but we've got to hit," Betts said. "Yoshi is going to do his thing. We need him to, obviously. But we've got to hit. There's no way around that."