After a thrilling win (or crushing defeat for Mariners fans), the Toronto Blue Jays earned the right to meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2025 World Series. The Blue Jays will make their first appearance
in the World Series since 1993, when they won 4-2 over the Phillies. For those counting at home, it’s been 32 years since then. That’s even longer than 1985-2015 for the Royals, though the Blue Jays experienced a *bit* more success in the intervening years.
The Dodgers, after sweeping the Brewers 4-0, are making their first World Series appearance this calendar year. It’s been a long time, eh? They will attempt to be the first back-to-back winners since the Yankees went back-to-back-to-back in 1998-2000. Funnily enough, the previous back-to-back winner was the Blue Jays in 1992-1993.
While each team has noteworthy pitching we’ll discuss, this series is a matchup of titans with the bat. In the NLCS, Shohei Ohtani had one of the best individual games we’ve ever seen, going six innings with 10 strikeouts as a pitcher and hitting three home runs as a hitter. For the Blue Jays, Vlad Guerrero Jr has been an absolute whirlwind; he has a .510 OBP in the playoffs.
But they’re not the only guys! These teams both feature excellent length in the lineup. As is typical for the teams who make it the farthest in the postseason, each team features a litany of guys who are hitting well above average in the postseason. For the Dodgers, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, and others are hitting well. For the Blue Jays, George Springer, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, and more are hitting. There’s hardly a hitter off for a pitcher to take a break.
For the Dodgers, they used roughly the same lineup in Games 3 and 4 against the Brewers. Here are those nine guys and their *regular season* performance.
In the small sample size of the postseason, a few of these guys have elevated their performances, including both Hernándezes and Edman. Pages has been the only offensive black hole in the playoffs.
Similarly, the Blue Jays used roughly the same lineup in Games 6 and 7 against the Mariners. Here are those 9 guys and their *regular season* performance
However, there is one big player missing for the Blue Jays in that lineup – Bo Bichette. He’s been out with a knee injury since early September but will return for the World Series. He’s a key part of their team, having hit .311/.357/.483 for a 134 wRC+. He would push Andrés Giménez out at shortstop for a massive offensive upgrade, or if he’s not ready to handle the field, he could stick at DH while Springer goes to the outfield. There’s also a report that he’s taking ground balls at second base ahead of Game 1. Davis Schneider may also get some playing time in LF. He hit .234/.361/.436 for a 127 wRC+ in the regular season. The Blue Jays can move some of these guys around when Bichette comes back to field their optimal offensive lineup. Note that Anthony Santander, a prospective Royals target last offseason, left with an injury during the ALCS and was removed from the roster, which means he cannot play during the World Series.
Each team is packed with offensive firepower, so we should see some entertaining displays during the World Series.
Unless the starting pitchers have anything to say about it. And, you know what, I think they will.
For the Dodgers, Blake Snell will start Game 1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets Game 2. Then Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow will get Games 3 and 4, but which pitcher gets which game has not been decided. Contrary to previous years, when it seemed like the Dodgers were always cobbling together innings from a litany of guys, this time around they are relying on their big guns to get the job done.
And they have. I’ll just let Eric Stephen at True Blue LA tell you.
Starting pitching is driving the Dodgers bus this postseason, and it’s been a smooth ride so far with nine wins in 10 games. The rotation has a minuscule 1.40 ERA and 33.5-percent strikeout rate in 64 1/3 innings, and has pitched at least six innings in eight of 10 games, plus 5 2/3 innings in one of the other shorter starts. They’ve already surpassed the total from Dodgers starters during last year’s championship run (60 innings), which lasted 16 games.
That’s a ridiculous run of dominance. I’m sure they’ll be up to the challenge of Guerrero, Springer, and co. They’ll have to be, because the Dodgers’ bullpen is a bit suspect. Roki Sasaki has taken on the mantle of shutdown reliever/closer and has thrown by far the highest number of innings out of the bullpen during the Dodgers’ playoff run. Other than him, though, no one else in the Dodgers bullpen has stepped up. Up to this point, the rotation has been doing the heavy lifting. That could be a problem against the Jays’ offense. We’ll see.
The Blue Jays have not had a chance to set their rotation yet, but Yesavage will start Game 1. The rest is uncertain. Chris Bassitt made 31 starts for the team in 2025, but has pitched only 2.2 innings in all postseason action. Gausman had a pretty typical, solid Gausman season and is reliable. Beyond him, it’s rickety with Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer in the mix. Yesavage mowed down the Yankees in the ALDS, but he got blown up by the Mariners in ALCS Game 2. He did pretty well in ALCS Game 6, allowing only two runs in 5.2 innings of work. Scherzer did the same in ALCS Game 4, but it wasn’t that long ago that the Royals knocked him out in only 0.2 innings in a 20-1 beatdown. John Schneider seems to have a short leash for Bieber, removing him pretty early in Game 7 of the ALCS and Game 3 of the ALDS.
Similar to the Dodgers, the Blue Jays’ bullpen is also a weak spot. Jeff Hoffman has been nails in the postseason but had a 4.37 ERA in the regular season. Louis Varland has been OK, sorta…the only runs he’s given up this whole postseason have been on home runs. Seranthony Domínguez and Braydon Fisher are the other prominent Blue Jays relievers, though Domínguez pitched nearly twice as much as Fisher. By fWAR, their top reliever during the regular season was Brendon Little, and he barely pitched at all in the ALCS. His last appearance was Game 5, in which he gave up three runs, including a homer to Big Dumper, and did not record an out in a loss. It seems like Schneider doesn’t have a couple of go-to guys he can fully trust.
Each team will have to hope that its starters can carry the day against loaded offenses.
You can see the schedule here, but the schedule is pretty simple. Every game is at 7 pm US Central. Friday/Saturday in Toronto, Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday* in LA, and Friday*/Saturday* again in Toronto. Games will be televised on FOX.
* If necessary
With as much offensive starpower as this World Series has, I’d recommend watching. Who will win?
