World Series Game 7: Dodgers and Blue Jays starting lineups
World Series team coverage: Dodgers force Game 7
The Los Angeles Dodgers survived a wild bottom of the ninth to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Friday to even the World Series at three games each. Game 7 will be played Saturday night.
LOS ANGELES - Game 7 of the 2025 World Series is set for a winner-take-all showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 1.
What we know:
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts named Shohei Ohtani as the starting pitcher.
RELATED: Dodgers face Blue Jays in World Series Game 7; Ohtani to start
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider named 41-year-old Max Scherzer as the starting pitcher at Rogers Centre.
The Dodgers slightly shuffled their lineup, with Max Muncy moving to the fifth spot and Tommy Edman to the seventh spot.
The Blue Jays made one change, swapping Addison Barger (batting fifth) and Daulton Varsho (batting seventh).
Ohtani, Scherzer to start
The backstory:
The decision to start Ohtani allows the Dodgers to use a rule adopted for the 2022 season, which permits a starting pitcher who is in the batting order to remain as the designated hitter after leaving the mound.
If Ohtani started as only the designated hitter and then pitched, the Dodgers would lose their designated hitter, forcing pitchers to bat in that slot after Ohtani was relieved.
Ohtani has never pitched in relief in Major League Baseball, though he did make relief appearances in Japan and closed out Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic Final.
Dodgers fighting to extend World Series in Toronto
FOX 11's Matthew Seedorff takes us to Toronto in the hours ahead of Game 6 of the World Series.
Ohtani enters game 7 batting .318 in the World Series with three homers and five RBIs, but he is 0-1 with a 6.00 era from his game 4 start.
Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, is becoming only the fourth pitcher to start multiple winner-take-all game 7s in the World Series.
Scherzer previously started the last World Series game 7 in 2019 for the Washington Nationals, where he left trailing by two runs before his team rallied to win.
The starting lineups
What we know:
Dodgers
Starting pitcher: Shohei Ohtani
- Shohei Ohtani (L) P
- Will Smith (R) C
- Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
- Mookie Betts (R) SS
- Max Muncy (L) 3B
- Teoscar Hernández (R) RF
- Tommy Edman (S) CF
- Enrique Hernández (R) LF
- Miguel Rojas (R) 2B
Blue Jays
Starting pitcher: Max Scherzer
- George Springer (R) DH
- Nathan Lukes (L) LF
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
- Bo Bichette (R) 2B
- Addison Barger (L) RF
- Alejandro Kirk (R) C
- Daulton Varsho (L) CF
- Ernie Clement (R) 3B
- Andrés Giménez (L) SS
The Source: This report is compiled from the explicit starting lineup announcements made by managers Dave Roberts and John Schneider for World Series Game 7. Context regarding the pitching selection and historical statistics, such as the major league baseball rule for Shohei Ohtani and the history of Max Scherzer starting multiple Game 7s, is based on records and league rules adopted by Major League Baseball (MLB). The Associated Press contributed.