If you are Kevin Gausman, it’s a tough pill for you to swallow. You’ve battled your way through October, been the steady hand the team leans on, and now, with a championship within reach, all one can talk about is the guy on the Dodgers side—Yoshinobu Yamamoto. 

Katie Woo of The Athletic didn’t mince words: “Starting pitching matchups: Who’s the favorite for Game 6? It’ll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-1, 1.57 ERA in the playoffs) vs. Gausman (2-2, 2.55 ERA) for Game 6, and while Gausman has been plenty dependable for Toronto, the advantage goes to the pitcher coming off consecutive complete games.”

And this is the ultimate snub towards Kevin Gausman. Because he has done everything right this postseason, but Yamamoto has simply stolen the limelight. The Dodgers ace isn’t just pitching well; he is rewriting the postseason record books. Two straight complete games, one earned run allowed in each, and that command that makes him look almost mechanical on the mound.

So, it makes sense what Katie Woo is saying. Yamamoto truly is the reason LA still thinks they can claw their way back and force a Game 7.

Right now, the Dodgers are facing elimination—and right now, there is no one that they would rather hand the ball to than the Japanese ace. Dave Roberts has complete faith in Yamamoto and also might have to rely on him to pitch deep into the game, given that their pitching staff has taken several injury hits. They are missing Tony Gonsolin, Evan Phillips, and Brusdar Graterol, and even relievers Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech are sidelined on the 15-day injured list.

Yamamoto, with his 12–8 record and 2.49 ERA, has been close to flawless, and with LA’s bullpen in shambles, his ability to go deep gives the Dodgers their best, or maybe their…only shot. As Woo also mentioned, “The Dodgers are a powerhouse, even with legitimate worries surrounding their bats and bullpen. But they have met their match against Toronto and now must do something they haven’t done all year: stave off elimination and force a Game 7.”

But don’t overlook Kevin Gausman. He has been the Toronto Blue Jays’ rock, carrying a 2.55 ERA this postseason while matching up with the elite lineups. His Game 2 loss was not because of his lack of fight—it was simply Yamamoto’s night. Now with the Jays one win away from their first title since 1993, he gets another chance to flip the script.

Dodgers need their bats to wake up—or even Yoshinobu Yamamoto can’t save them

The Los Angeles Dodgers, honestly, need their bats to wake up ASAP, because without that, even a man who has thrown back-to-back complete game gems won’t be able to save them. And right now, even the skipper is not feeling all that good. Before flying back to Toronto, Dave Roberts admitted, “It doesn’t feel great. You clearly see [the Blue Jays] finding ways to get hits, move the baseball forward, and we’re not doing a good job of it. … You still have to use the whole field and take what they give you, and if they’re not going to allow for slug, then you’ve got to be able to kind of redirect and club down to take competitive at-bats…We have that ability. We’ve got to make some adjustments.”

That actually might be an understatement. Through five games, LA is batting a brutal .201 with a .651 OPS. Since taking a 2-1 lead, they have hit just .164, collecting a sad 10 hits in two games. For a team that entered the postseason with baseball’s deepest lineup, that silence is simply deafening.

Mookie Betts knows that he is slacking, too. Betts said, “We got a lot of confidence [in Yamamoto], but we got to hit. We got to hit. Yoshi can go do his thing, which we need him to, obviously, but we got to hit. There’s no other way around it.”

Betts himself has been a big part of the problem. He is batting just .234 this postseason and 3 for 23 in the World Series. Max Muncy and Tommy Edman have not done much to their capacity and are struggling to find their timing against Toronto’s arms.

So yes, Yamamoto may be the Los Angeles Dodgers’ last hope, but he can’t score runs. The math is simple—if the bats stay cold. Then, Toronto is about to celebrate its first championship since 1993.