Eric Lauer won the Blue Jays Game 4 without throwing a pitch
A look at how important Eric Lauer's Game 3 performance was, and what it means for the rest of the World Series.
Despite coming out on the losing end of the epic 18-inning Game 3, going into Game 4 down 2-1 to the Dodgers, the Blue Jays still had the pitching to be competitive in the next two games. That is never a guarantee when a game goes that long into extra innings.
The hero for the Blue Jays was Eric Lauer. Lauer, the 30-year-old journeyman who had spent time in the Majors with the Padres and Brewers and played last season in South Korea, pitched 4 ⅔ scoreless innings and saved the Blue Jays from over-extending the rest of their bullpen or having to burn a starter.
Coming in with one out in the bottom of the 12th, Lauer threw 68 pitches, wiggled out of a bases loaded jam with Freddie Freeman at the plate in the 13th and made it three times through the Dodgers vaunted lineup before handing the ball off to Brendon Little for the 17th.
“[Schneider] came up to me a few times and asked if I was good,” Lauer said via MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos. “Of course I was good. I was ready to go, and that’s pretty much all we left it at. He was like, ‘This is your game. We’re going to try to win it for you. Just keep going out there and doing your thing.’”
While the Blue Jays did of course end up losing the game, with Little giving up a walk-off home run to Freeman to lead off the 18th, the way Lauer held the line and allowed the Blue Jays to keep the rest of their bullpen and starting rotation fresh enough for the rest of the series is arguably just as important as getting the win.
It would have made sense for Lauer to struggle in this situation. A starter for the majority of the season, Lauer lost his spot in the rotation after the meteoric rise of rookie Trey Yesavage and deadline acquisition Shane Bieber’s recovery from Tommy John surgery. One of the Blue Jays’ most important and consistent arms during the regular season with a 3.18 ERA in 28 appearances and 15 starts, Lauer was forced into more of a mop-up, long relief role in the postseason.
Lauer’s last two appearances were in Game 1 of the World Series and Game 2 of the ALCS, both low-leverage situations where he threw just one inning.
Instead of struggling, Lauer shoved, and, despite the heartbreaking Game 3 loss, set the Blue Jays up for success in Game 4. Manager John Schneider did not have to go to any of his starters, allowing Bieber, who ended up throwing 5 ⅓ innings of one-run ball and earned the win, to pitch as scheduled.
The only pitcher that Schneider had to officially rule out for Game 4 was Lauer.
Despite the pain of an 18-inning loss still fresh on their minds, Lauer’s Blue Jays teammates made sure to sing his praises after the game (all quotes via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.)
“He’s got some balls on him,” said Davis Schneider. “Lauer’s a dawg out there. We have a lot of dawgs on that field. Lauer’s one of them. He came up clutch for sure.”
“He’s great,” said Ernie Clement. “He’s been awesome all year. I’m happy for him because he’s been through it. And anything we’ve asked of him, he’s done it. It’s not surprising one bit.”
“I thought he pitched incredible,” said Kevin Gausman. “You don’t really know exactly what you’re getting yourself into in that spot, but he just kept getting outs, and getting out of big spots and making great pitches. That’s what we’ve seen him do all year. Now that he’s out in the bullpen it’s a little different, but he’s still that animal out there.”
This is actually a pretty similar situation to what happened with the Red Sox and Dodgers during the 2018 World Series. Both 2025 and 2018 Game 3s at Dodger Stadium lasted 18 innings, ended with a Dodgers walk-off home run, featured heroic bullpen performances from unlikely candidates and even had the same national anthem singer–Dodgers superfan and country music star Brad Paisley (Paisley even played a role in the Dodgers trading for last night’s starter Tyler Glasnow).
The Dodgers avoided going down 3-0 in 2018 with their Game 3 win, but ended up losing the World Series in five games with the Red Sox dominating the rest of the way. One of the ways the Red Sox were able to do that was because of Nathan Eovaldi’s bullpen performance in extra innings. Like Lauer and Klein did for the Blue Jays and Dodgers, Eovaldi was able to save the Red Sox bullpen and allow them to be as close to fully rested as possible for the rest of the series.
Eovaldi pitched six innings and gave up just one unearned run before allowing a walk-off home run to Max Muncy in the 18th. Those gutsy six innings of work earned him cult hero status in Boston and even though he was tabbed with the loss, his performance is considered by many to be the most consequential of that whole World Series and went as far as to bring Eovaldi’s Red Sox teammate Rick Porcello to tears.
An 18-inning game has the chance to destroy a team’s chances in a postseason series, especially if they come out on the losing end. But Lauer did not let that happen. Now, because of Lauer, the Blue Jays were able to tie the series at two and guarantee a Game 6 back in Toronto.
If the Blue Jays end up winning the World Series, the MVP will likely go to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk or maybe one of the starting pitchers. But Lauer’s contributions, despite coming in a loss, should not be forgotten.