The Toronto Blue Jays are in a tough position heading after Game 3 of the 2025 World Series. Not only did the Blue Jays lose, Toronto went through most of its bullpen in the 18-inning class that the Los Angeles Dodgers ultimately won.
Despite immensely productive efforts from the Blue Jays, some small mistakes in base running ended up costing them in the long run, as they now have to figure out how to get the most out of Shane Bieber in game four so they can let their bullpen rest a bit ahead of game five.
Thankfully for them, their defense came in to make some exceptional plays in game three, and can be relied upon in most cases behind their starting pitcher. A good example from the last matchup was a throw made by Addison Barger in the bottom of the third inning, where he threw out Freddie Freeman at the plate to prevent a third run from scoring, and got Toronto out of the inning.
Addison Barger’s perfect throw prevents a run at the plate #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/JJC4DnxLu4
— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
This specific throw was an immensely impressive one, as it looked like Freeman would have been out by a mile, and he was, but the throw was what ended up being the most complete part, as it was so fast through the air that it would have been difficult for many players to score in the same position. According to Statcast, the throw was the fastest tracked outfield assist in the World Series during the Statcast era.
Probably shouldn’t run on Addison Barger 😮
(MLB x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/B3qvBW3YuB
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) October 28, 2025
The thrown, 98.5 miles per hour out of the arm was enormously impressive from Barger as he cut down Freeman, giving the Blue Jays a chance to get back to an even playing field later in the game, which held until the 18th inning. While the result was not what Toronto was looking for, they can certainly at least have some positive takeaways heading into the fourth matchup, as they look to even up the series on the back of some offensive production and hopefully a good start from Bieber.
Ultimately, going down 3-1 would make for an extremely difficult valley to climb out of, so while game four is not a literal must-win matchup, it might as well be for the Blue Jays, as they want to get back on track sooner rather than later.
