When the Blue Jays won Game 1, something that not many people expected, Skip Bayless already had to take his prediction about them back. And now, they have done it again with a 6-2 victory! Who would have expected Bayless to praise them again, but here we are. 

“The Toronto Blue Jays are really impressing me with their mental toughness. To lose in 18 and come right back and beat Shohei? Even at 2-2, slight psychological advantage, Jays,” Bayless admitted taking to his X account.

Bayless’ reaction summed up exactly what made Toronto’s Game 4 win so striking. Less than 24 hours earlier, the Blue Jays had walked off the field defeated after one of the longest games in modern World Series history, an 18-inning grind that stretched over six hours and tested every inch of their roster. They burned through nearly their entire bullpen, lost their sparkplug George Springer to a side injury, and watched Shohei Ohtani torment them with two home runs, two doubles, and nine times reaching base. Any team would have been emotionally drained after that kind of loss. That’s exactly the kind of resolve Bayless didn’t think they had just a week ago. 

When Toronto won the AL pennant, he had posted, “Congrats to the Toronto Blue Jays for winning the right to lose the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.” Even after their blowout 11–4 Game 1 win, his tone was more mocking than impressed: “The vaunted Dodgers are getting Dodgered by the hopeless underdogs in Toronto.”

For someone who’d been so dismissive of their chances, his Game 4 praise marked a real shift in perspective. And well, understandably so, instead of collapsing, the Blue Jays walked into Dodger Stadium the next evening and flipped the entire narrative, making Ohtani look mortal for the first time all postseason. After terrorizing them in Game 3, Ohtani was hit hard and visibly frustrated in Game 4, giving up four runs and being pulled in the seventh inning.

The tone of the night shifted early. In the third inning, with one out, Nathan Lukes singled, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. jumped on a hanging sweeper from Ohtani, launching it into the left-field seats to give Toronto a 2–1 lead. Guerrero roared, rounding the bases. 

Meanwhile, Shane Bieber, who had been next in line to pitch if Game 3 reached a 19th inning, took the mound with no signs of exhaustion. He struck out Ohtani twice, both times on sharp breaking balls, ending the Japanese superstar’s streak of 11 consecutive plate appearances reaching base, a postseason record. Bieber allowed only one run through six innings, keeping the Dodgers off balance while Toronto’s bats slowly built their lead.

What made the effort even more remarkable was who wasn’t playing. Springer, the emotional core of the lineup and one of October’s most decorated performers, could barely swing a bat due to the injury he suffered the night before. In his place, role players like Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement, and Ty France stepped up. Varsho opened the seventh inning with a walk, Clement doubled, and the dominoes fell from there, Andrés Giménez singled, France drove in another with a groundout, and Bo Bichette and Addison Barger added two more RBI singles that chased the Dodgers’ bullpen into chaos.

Even without Springer, the Blue Jays’ offense collected 11 hits to the Dodgers’ six, wearing down every arm Los Angeles threw at them. Their approach, grinding at-bats, minimizing mistakes, and executing cleanly, mirrored the team’s identity all year.

And now, with the series tied 2–2 and the momentum tilting slightly their way, Bayless’ “psychological advantage” comment didn’t feel like hyperbole. Toronto’s ability to recover that fast and win in such fashion has surely planted a seed of doubt in the Dodgers’ dugout. Manager Dave Roberts has to face tough decisions heading into Game 5.

“I’m gonna think long and hard, and it might look a little bit different tomorrow,” Roberts said, hinting at lineup changes. “Am I going to play Andy (Pages), am I going to play (Alex) Call, or am I going to play (Miguel Rojas)?”

It’s not hard to see why. Andy Pages, once one of the Dodgers’ steadiest hitters, has gone ice cold this postseason, just 4-for-50, slashing .080/.115/.100. In contrast, Alex Call has quietly made the most of limited chances, going 4-for-9 and putting pressure on Roberts to rethink his lineup. Rojas, too, could become a factor with his contact-first approach and ability to move the ball, something the Dodgers badly need right now.

Notably, the Dodgers managed only six hits compared to Toronto’s 11, a telling gap considering how depleted the Blue Jays’ bullpen was. Toronto’s relievers were running on fumes, yet Los Angeles couldn’t string together quality at-bats.

Heading into Game 5, the Dodgers will likely shuffle their lineup, searching for a spark that’s been missing since Game 3’s marathon win.

The 18-inning game took a toll on the Dodgers

That 18-inning marathon in Game 3 was always going to leave a mark on this World Series. And Game 4 made it pretty clear that the Dodgers are feeling it more than the Blue Jays.

The fatigue showed up most in Shohei Ohtani, and honestly, that’s not too surprising.

Notably, Ohtani was superhuman in Game 3, reaching base nine times, an absurd, comic-book–level performance. Then, just two nights later, he was back out there starting on the mound and hitting.

But even a superhuman needs a pit stop. After cruising through the early innings and looking sharp in the sixth, things started to unravel in the seventh. Varsho led off with a solid single to right, and Clement followed with a double off the wall, putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out.

However, beyond Ohtani’s rare stumble, Game 4 exposed a bigger issue… The Dodgers’ offense still runs almost entirely through him. When Ohtani’s bat isn’t firing, the rest of the lineup seems to stall, exactly what we saw tonight.