The 2025 World Series comes down to a gut-wrenching, nerve-wracking, stomach-churning experience that is a Game 7

Let’s play one more.

The Los Angeles Dodgers used lockdown pitching, one three-run inning and an incredible double play in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, setting up a winner-take-all Game 7 that promises plenty of drama. Friday night’s Game 6 came down to the final inning as the Blue Jays rallied but got two bad breaks – a ground-rule double that kept a run from scoring and a double-play sparked by some magic Kiké Hernandez and poor base running from Addison Barger.

It was heart-in-mouth stuff, the kind of baseball that makes the stomach tighten up and produces the involuntary running of hands through hair or the biting of fingernails. And, as intense as those moments get in playoff ball, there’s nothing as nerve-wracking or stomach-churning as a Game 7.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider, fresh off a disappointing loss, was looking forward to it.

“It’s the two best words in sports: Game 7,” he said to reporters after the game.

“It’s going to be fun here. But to the fans, I say, see you tomorrow night. Be loud, be rowdy. And we’re gonna be ready to play.”

The stakes of Saturday night’s matchup are simple: Two teams that have formed their squads with the sole aim of winning a world title will play one game for the right to call themselves World Series champs.

The Dodgers are the most expensive baseball team ever put on a field, and they’ve needed every ounce of that star power in this series. It was Will Smith, the longtime catcher, who helped pace them to a win in Game 2. Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman were the heroes in a marathon Game 3. In Game 6, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts and Roki Sasaki who provided the big moments to force a seventh game. Role players like Hernandez and Miguel Rojas made the key double play that snuffed out the Blue Jays’ last-ditch rally.

All those names together in a lineup set the expectation that it’s championship or bust for the Dodgers. They’re looking to win back-to-back titles, something that hasn’t been done since the big leagues since 2000 and take a big step toward establishing themselves as MLB’s first dynasty in a quarter-century.

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are looking to cash in on their golden generation’s best, and possibly last, chance to win a title. While Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is on an expensive long-term contract, key pieces like Bo Bichette are heading toward free agency after this season and others are rentals who may not be in Canada for the long haul.

The Blue Jays have felt like a team with a ton of potential for years as their young stars have come of age. A win Saturday and all that waiting will have been worth it – three decades worth of waiting since Joe Carter’s walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series.

The matchup on the mound will befit the high-stakes situation.