TORONTO — For the first time in 48 days, Bo Bichette was back in the Blue Jays lineup on Friday. And for the first time in 2,382 days, he was playing second base—in Game 1 of the World Series, no less.

Bichette delivered on both sides of the ball, going 1-for-2 with a walk and making a strong defensive play that saved a run in the third inning as the Blue Jays defeated the Dodgers 11-4 at Rogers Centre.

“I just tried to slow the game down and treat it like any other game,” Bichette said. “Just fall in line and have good at-bats, just like everyone else is having.”

The shortstop had been sidelined since September 6 with a left knee sprain suffered in a collision at home plate with Yankees catcher Austin Wells. While Bichette was too limited physically to make the Blue Jays roster for the ALDS or ALCS, he was finally cleared for the World Series roster—even if he is still not fully recovered.

During his rehab process, Bichette proposed playing second base. He had played 30 games there in the minors, but none since 2019. The idea was that he could get ready quicker at second base. The Blue Jays agreed, seeing it as a way to get Bichette’s bat into the lineup, batting cleanup behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr.—who just came off a season hitting .311 with an .840 OPS—while keeping Andrés Giménez, who offers more defensively, at shortstop.

Bichette even saved the Blue Jays defensively in the third inning. With the Dodgers already leading 2-0 and a runner on second, Teoscar Hernández hit a ground ball up the middle. Bichette ranged to the other side of second base, backhanded the ball, and made a strong throw to nail Hernández for the second out of the inning.

“Just let the athleticism take over,” Bichette said. Although hobbling after the play, he stayed in until being pinch-run for by Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the sixth inning.

Later in the game, when Shohei Ohtani came up to bat in the ninth inning, the crowd serenaded him with chants of “We don’t need you!” Ohtani had famously snubbed the Blue Jays in free agency two years ago to sign with the Dodgers.

“Don’t poke the bear,” said right-hander Chris Bassitt.

Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, a walk, and two strikeouts.

On the Dodgers’ side, the team kept reliever Alex Vesia off their roster after announcing Thursday that he stepped away from the team “to navigate a deeply personal family matter.” The Dodgers could have placed him on the family medical emergency list, which requires a minimum three-day absence and would have allowed him to pitch later in the series, but they chose not to.

“We just didn’t want to have any potential for any kind of pressure,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations. “This is so much bigger than baseball. For us, it was doing whatever small part we could to just a hundred percent be supportive.”

In light of the NBA’s recent gambling scandal, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark expressed ongoing concern about the safety and well-being of players.

“We’ve worked closely with the league to ensure the safety and well-being of our players,” Clark said on Friday. “That remains front and center. That, along with educating our players, making sure they understand what they can and can’t do, is consistent and constant. But rest assured, every time there’s a situation that arises related to gambling, the concern doesn’t lessen—it gets worse.”

Adding a touch of history to the night, Cito Gaston—the Blue Jays’ manager during their only two World Series titles in 1992 and 1993—threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Joe Carter, whose walk-off three-run homer clinched the 1993 World Series, will throw out the first pitch before Game 2.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/25/sports/bo-bichette-thrives-in-return-to-blue-jays-lineup/