Elephant Rumblings: World Series Matchup Set

MLB news roundup

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Morning everyone!

The 2025 World Series is officially set, with the American League’s #1 seeded Toronto Blue Jays set to take on the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. This should be a great matchup with both teams having a great shot at another title in their histories. For the Blue Jays, a series victory over the Dodgers would be the team’s third since their inception in 1977, while the Dodgers are going for their ninth World Series win in their 142 year history and third in six years.

The starting pitching matchup isn’t fully out yet but we know who will be going Games 1 and 2 for the Dodgers. For Los Angeles, they’ll go with stud left-hander Blake Snell to get the series rolling. Snell is coming off arguably the best game of his life when he went eight one-hit innings while racking up 10 K’s against the NL’s #1 seeded Milwaukee Brewers. Snell has been one of if not LA’s best pitchers this year when healthy, and that’s been especially true since the calendar flipped to October. In three starts this postseason Snell has allowed just two runs in 21 innings, and those two runs came at the very end of his first appearance.

The Game 2 starter for LA will be Japanese ace righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’s set to make his fourth start this postseason. Yamamoto has had one solid start, one meh start, and one fantastic start this postseason. He pitched into the seventh without allowing a run to the Reds in the first round before getting touched up for three runs in just four innings against the Phillies. His last appearance though was special as he tossed a complete game shutout against the Brewers in Game 2 in Milwaukee. That’s exactly why the Dodgers shelled out $300 million for him and they’re reaping the rewards.

As for the Blue Jays, they’ve yet to announce their Game 1 starter much less who will be going later in the series. We can still make educated guesses though! Their ace, Kevin Gausman, made a relief appearance in Game 7 on Monday evening. It was for just one inning though and his previous start was on Friday, one week from Game 1 of the World Series. It’s a fair bet to assume it’ll be him on the mound in Toronto to kick things off for the Blue Jays. After that it’s anyone’s guess what order but Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer are also more or less locks to make starts in the World Series. Maybe they’d send the rookie Yesavage out to the mound for Game 2 in front of the home crowd, and let either veteran Bieber or Scherzer handle the first game in Los Angeles. Or who knows, maybe former Athletic Chris Bassitt gets a surprise nod for a start this series. We’ll see.

The Dodgers are favorites entering this series and won 2 of 3 against Toronto this year, but underdogs have a knack of finding a way to win in baseball. Gotta play the game before you get the crown. Have a great day everyone!

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