Articles by Colin Loughran

Technology

What Blue Jays’ George Springer said about Yoshinobu Yamamoto making fearsome lineup look clueless

The Toronto Blue Jays seemed overmatched in their 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in a complete game masterpiece that tied the series up at a game apiece, and Toronto All-Star George Springer gave a blunt take on the team’s failure to do much damage against the Los Angeles ace. “(Yamamoto) mixed six or seven pitches, or five or six, whatever it is. He showed why he is who he is,” Springer told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “You can’t try to nitpick it or do whatever. It’s one of those situations where a very, very elite guy had a great game.” Yamamoto only surrendered four hits and struck out eight batters across his nine innings of work. Spring represented the lone Toronto run when Alejandro Kirk drove him in with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning. Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman was effective for most of the night. He surrendered only one run over his first six innings of work, but gave up solo home runs to Will Smith and Max Muncy in the top of the seventh. “Oh, man, Kev was really good,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “I thought Kev matched him pitch for pitch, really,” Schneider continued. “They both had low pitch counts. It was kind of a classic pitchers’ duel and they made a couple more swings.” The Dodgers added two more runs in the eighth, while the Blue Jays struggled to generate any momentum against Yamamoto. The 2025 World Series is tied at a game apiece, and Toronto will attempt to turn the page ahead of Monday night’s Game 3 in Los Angeles.

Technology

The Dodgers’ ‘silent assassin’ who won Game 2, and it’s not Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-1 Game 2 World Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays came with a complete game showing from starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but catcher Will Smith might have had the two biggest hits of the contest. Smith got the Dodgers on the board in the top of the first inning with an RBI single that drove in Freddie Freeman. Perhaps more critically, with the score tied 1-1 in the top of the seventh, the 30-year-old drilled a solo home run that afforded Los Angeles a 2-1 edge that would eventually grow to a 5-1 lead that they would not relent. According to Tyler Kepner of The Athletic, Smith’s heroics could be traced back to his Kentucky roots. Even if the two-time World Series champion is not flashy, he has built a reputation as a player who will rise to the occasion when necessary. “Somebody texted me tonight, ‘He’s the silent assassin,’” said Marty Lamb, on the phone from his home in Kentucky after the game. “He doesn’t say a whole lot, but he gets the job done.” “Lamb scouted Smith at the University of Louisville, tracking him through two ordinary seasons before his breakout as a junior, when he hit .382,” Kepner wrote. “The Dodgers took Smith 32nd and he has provided almost three times as much value as any other first-rounder in his class.” Smith has spent his entire career with the Dodgers. Across seven years, he has bashed 128 home runs and earned an .834 OPS. While he missed roughly a month this season due to a hairline fracture in his throwing hand, the three-time All-Star has hit .314 and posted an .800 OPS through his first 10 postseason appearances of 2025. “He doesn’t really talk that much,” Freeman said. “He’s more focused on the pitcher and making sure they’re getting through the games. (So) for him to do things offensively, and what he’s done – he’s an All-Star back-to-back years, but I think he cares more about pitchers, and that’s what makes him so special.” The Dodgers and Blue Jays are tied at a game apiece following Game 2. The series will shift to Los Angeles on Monday night.