MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – OCTOBER 13: Manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on before game one of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on October 13, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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The Los Angeles Dodgers returned home with the World Series tied after a heroic pitching performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2.
Yamamoto pitched a complete game in the victory over the Toronto Blue Jays and now the Dodgers have recaptured their momentum as the fall classic moves to Los Angeles. But, following the victory, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts suggested that the team might have been hit with an intentional setback after their win.
“I don’t want to get too far into it,” Roberts said during the Dodgers’ workout day on Sunday, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. “I just arrived 30 minutes ago. So there was some delays. I don’t know if there was intent or not. But, man, the international stuff was a bear. But we made it. We made it.”
Roberts’ suggestion that the team might have faced an intentional delay in returning home from Toronto turned some heads and might have added a bit more drama to the ongoing series.
“Some of the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers had trouble getting out of Toronto on Sunday, with manager Dave Roberts arriving late to a workout at Dodger Stadium,” Mike Wilner wrote for the Toronto Star, referencing the manager’s hint at an accusation. “That’s some tinfoil thinking for the L.A. skipper, imagining that the fine men and women who protect our borders would delay their flights on purpose.”
Roberts’ suggestion also received some press attention because he and the team were re-entering the U.S., rather than trying to get into Canada.
“If the Dodgers ran into issues today, it would presumably have been on the U.S. customs side as they were re-entering the U.S.,” Nicholson-Smith pointed out in a follow up post. “Either way, international travel is not a new part of Major League Baseball, which has had teams in Canada for the last 57 seasons.”
Even if Roberts believes his team might have been intentionally delayed as they traveled home to continue the World Series, it seems he does not want to make the issue a distraction before the third game. In any case, a legitimate accusation levied at border control probably wouldn’t hold much weight.