Dodgers dynasty talk is teetering as gutsy Blue Jays outclass defending champs

LOS ANGELES — Just in case the Dodgers missed it, those 18 innings Monday night represented only one game and not a clinch. 

Because in the 18 innings since, the Dodgers have not looked dynastic nor like a defending champ ready to make history by becoming the first in a quarter century to repeat. 

Let’s give the Blue Jays love. They are playing terrific. They not only lost that exhausting gut punch Monday night, but their leadoff hitter, George Springer, who has now missed two games with right oblique discomfort. No problem. The length of their talent and tenacity has been fantastic. 

Davis Schneider, replacing Springer as the leadoff hitter, smacked Blake Snell’s first pitch of the game for a homer — and wonderful symbolism about fortitude. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered two pitches later. By the seventh inning, all nine Toronto hitters had reached safely and eight had either scored or driven in a run. And they weren’t even the main Blue Jays storyline of a 6-1 triumph in Game 5.