The stage is set. In a matchup that represents teams from two different countries, the 2025 World Series will feature the defending champion Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays, a team that clinched their first World Series appearance in 32 years.
The Dodgers were the overwhelming favorite against the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card series, but were considered the underdog by regular season record against both the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS and NLCS. Orion Kerkering
threw the series and his team’s season away with an errant throw home in Game 4 of the Division Series, and the Brewers could muster up just one single run against the Dodgers in every game of the NLCS. The NL pennant stays within the NL West for a third year in a row, and the Dodgers now embark on the final act of their mission of becoming the first repeat champions in a quarter century.
The Toronto Blue Jays are no slouch. In a contested American League East division, they came away with not only with their first division title in nine years but with the best regular season record in the AL. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. terrorized the New York Yankees in a four game series win in the ALDS, and although the Seattle Mariners took them to a seven game series in the ALCS, George Springer’s late inning heroics brought Toronto to the World Series for the first time this century.
It is the third straight postseason series where the Dodgers are considered the underdogs on paper, as Toronto hosts the first two games of the series, but they are a juggernaut.
Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are once again the frontline starters for the Dodgers for the first two games of the World Series, and they are both coming off impressive outings against the Brewers. Snell faced the minimum through eight innings of work, allowing one single hit and racking up 10 strikeouts. Yamamoto became the first Dodger to throw a complete game in the postseason in 21 years in the following game.
Snell has posted remarkable numbers in his career against the Blue Jays, posting a 2.39 ERA with 97 strikeouts across 79 innings. In his most recent start against Toronto, Snell secured a win as he struck out 10 over just five scoreless innings despite allowing three hits and three walks. Yamamoto, on the other hand, will make his first career start in Canada having never faced the Blue Jays.
Tyler Glasnow has posted overwhelmingly unfavorable results in his career against the Blue Jays in his career, but since joining the Dodgers, he’s managed a respectable 2.31 ERA with 17 strikeouts across 11 2/3 innings over his last two starts against Toronto.
For Shohei Ohtani, it will also be his first go around on the mound against Toronto, but he has been a force on offense. In his career against the Blue Jays, Ohtani carries a .314 batting average with 11 home runs, 27 RBI, and 27 runs scored across 33 games. Ohtani has yet to show off his prowess on both sides against an American League team in the postseason, but Game 4 of the NLCS demonstrated what that could potentially look like.
Toronto has had nowhere near the leisurely experience than that of the Dodgers’ postseason journey. While the offense has been a wrecking crew headlined by the likes of Springer and Guerrero, the pitching staff has been the biggest concern. Blue Jays starters failed to toss a single quality start in the ALDS, even when factoring in rookie Trey Yesavage’s masterful 11 strikeout performance in Game 2. They had marginally better results in the ALCS (3.86 ERA across 37 1/3 innings), but the bullpen, outside of Louis Varland and Jeff Hoffman, managed a combined ERA of 8.52, and their overall pitching staff has the third worst ERA out of all 12 teams this postseason.
The Blue Jays offense has been the most destructive force of any team this postseason, clobbering 20 home runs and posting an .878 OPS as a team. That aspect will be the biggest concern to the Dodgers pitching, but if the rotation can repeat their success they’ve had throughout the postseason, then they’ll be once again be a four-headed monster that no team wants to face. The Dodgers offense has struggled to lift off after the Wild Card series, but with a Blue Jays pitching staff that has been inconsistent at best, adequate run support is more than enough to supplement the rotation.
Recent history has not been kind to teams like the Dodgers in this situation. The last four World Series between one team that swept through the ‘CS and the other that went to Game 7, the team with the longer road came away victorious, including the 1988 Dodgers. This time around, the Dodgers enter with a desire to repeat, unlike the other eight teams before in these situations. With a vaunted pitching staff and offense looking to fully break out, the Dodgers will demonstrate superteam traits and unleash their dominance against the Blue Jays.
