MLB WORLD SERIES: DODGERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 25, 2025

John Schneider

Rogers Centre

Toronto Blue Jays

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Los Angeles Dodgers - 5, Toronto Blue Jays - 1

Q. You guys did such a good job yesterday of making Snell work. Was that ingredient kind of missing for you guys today or was Yamamoto just that good?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: No, he was that good. It kind of started that way. Got his 23, 24 pitches in the first, I think. That was probably our best chance. First and third and nobody out. After that, it was kind of few and far between.

Second complete game in a row in the postseason, that's pretty impressive, with a layoff in between. I think he made it hard for us to make him work. He was in the zone, split was in and out of the zone. It was a really good performance by him.

Q. With that delivery and the way his body's going in two different directions at the same time, what are you telling your hitters in terms of kind of where to look, how to try to identify where it's coming from and then identify a pitch to attack?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's a funky delivery for sure. Like everyone, you do a lot of work to get ready for it and different wind up than out of the stretch, for sure. They were ready. I think that you just give him credit. He tunneled everything really well, held his velo, spotted his heater really well.

I don't think it was for a lack of prep or -- it's deception. There's definitely some deception in the delivery too. He was on his game.

Q. This could very well be a back-and-forth series, so a good chance you may see Yamamoto again in Game 6. What do the players learn from today? And even with the 17 kind of swing-and-misses, there's got to be something they can take out of today?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's the first time we have seen him, so you get some feedback and hopefully make some adjustments. But really I think right now, you're worried about Glasnow, Game 3. But I think we do a really good job of making adjustments as we see guys. Again, man, that was a great performance by him.

Q. For a lot of it, it was a great performance by Kevin Gausman as well. What did you see out of him?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Oh, man, Kev was really good. I thought he located the fastball down really well, which made the split kind of open up. I think it was 17 straight at one point. Kev was good, man, just really good at-bat from Freddie in the first, two strikes, hits the double, RBI single, and then he was locked in, got some early outs, got some swing-and-miss. Just looking back at the home run to Smith, he's trying to go down and away and it leaked back up and in. Then same thing to Max.

But I thought Kev matched him pitch for pitch, really. They both had low pitch counts. It was kind of a classic pitchers' duel and they made a couple more swings.

Q. I think I had 21 in a row at one point overall. But when that's happening, when it's just quick three ups, three downs all the way through, what's the feeling there in the dugout?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: You feel good. Again, man, you have plans and you're kind of watching things unfold in real time and watching Kev make some adjustments too. So once we got back and tied the game with Kirky's sac fly, you feel good about Kev. He's one of our best pitchers, and I thought he did a really good job navigating. So it was anyone's game for the taking and they just made a couple big swings there off Kev.

Q. You probably almost answered this already, but were you in a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't when your guy's going that well, and then you get in third time through the order and it's like juggling philosophy versus what you're seeing?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: At that point you're kind of -- we try to really take that into consideration. Got Shohei -- again, top of the order's really dangerous. Their whole lineup is dangerous. They have been in this situation before.

So I think at that point it's just game state, 7th inning, and that's really about all you can ask for, if not a little bit more, from a starter against this team. So have confidence in the bullpen. It was just kind of -- I trusted Kev to get out of that. Even though it is the third time, you kind of watch what he's doing, yeah.

Q. In the era that you're used to as a manager and coach, did you ever think you would see performances like this of complete games from another era?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Man, it's hard to do. I get why Doc let him go. He was that good. I think that the baseball fan, right, they probably appreciate that. You have to appreciate a complete game. So you never know. You never know when someone's going to have it. Every game is different. So you never really discount anything. Who knows what's going to happen on Game 3. It's baseball and you got to kind of react in realtime.