Second verse, same as the first. (Hopefully).
Tonight, the Los Angeles Dodgers look to finish what they started, defending their World Series title from 2024. They will face the Toronto Blue Jays in what is shaping up to be a battle of the most annoying cliches and narratives.
USA vs. Canada. Good vs Evil. David and Goliath (again) even though the Blue Jays had the better season record. The team Shohei Ohtani chose vs the team he didn’t. (I could go the rest of my life without hearing an ‘Ohtani is
on a plane!’ joke again).
There are also some little fun facts along the way. The Dodgers and Blue Jays are tied for the most comeback wins this season, including the postseason. Toronto has both the youngest and oldest players in this matchup with Trey Yesavage and Max Scherzer, and there’s 19 years between them. Many players facing their former teams, in Scherzer and Teoscar Hernandez, who played for the Blue Jays from 2017-2022.
Speaking of 2017, the Dodgers will face George Springer again in the World Series. The first time, he was aided by some illegal measures. So far this postseason, he has 11 hits, nine of them for extra bases.
But the real story line is the true classic of baseball – good pitching vs. good hitting. The Dodgers haven’t been Goliaths at the bat so far this postseason, but that’s because they have faced really good pitching so far. Both Philadelphia and Milwaukee had excellent pitching staffs. Not that the Toronto pitching staff is horrid, but the Dodgers should have a little easier time scoring runs against them.
The Toronto bats have been on fire. Three of their players, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Daulton Varsho, and Alejandro Kirk have three of the top five hardest hit balls this post season, with Guerrero having 23. Jr is also batting .442/.510/.930 with six homers and 12 RBI. As a team, they are batting .296 and averaging 6.45 runs per game.
But as the Dodgers have faced elite pitching thus far, the Blue Jays have yet to encounter a staff as dominant as the Dodgers’ staff has been this postseason. Blake Snell, the Dodgers Game 1 starter, has won five consecutive postseason starts, and has a 14-inning scoreless streak going. As a whole, the Dodgers starting pitching staff is 9-1 with a 1.40 ERA. Opponents are batting .132 against them.
The Blue Jays are sending Yesavage to the mound to start Game 1. Really incredible to think about, as he started the season in Single-A ball and was just drafted last year. He has shown he belongs however, as he has struck out 22 across 15 innings so far in these playoffs.
Keys are as always – don’t let their bats get hot or let the crowd get into it. Limit meaningful at bats to Guererro Jr and Springer. Work their pitching staff and be patient at the plate. Don’t make any dumb defensive mistakes. And above all else, don’t let the game be close when it’s time for the Dodgers bullpen to get involved.
The crowd will be rocking in the Rogers Centre tonight. It’s been 11,689 days since Toronto has hosted a World Series game. The Dodgers should go in there and highlight just what a dominate team they really are.
