This year’s World Series teams are officially set. The Blue Jays managed to come back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in the ALCS to defeat the Mariners in Game 7 last night, thanks to a three-run homer from George Springer. Toronto is now poised to face the Dodgers after L.A. swept the Brewers out of the NLCS on the back of perhaps the greatest single-game performance of all time from Shohei Ohtani in Game 4. How do the Jays and Dodgers match up against each other?
It’s hard not to see the Dodgers as the titan in this series. They have MLB’s largest payroll and a roster littered with superstars. They’re gunning for their third championship in the past six seasons and have been to the Fall Classic five times in the past decade. On top of that, they’ve been utterly dominant this postseason with a combined 9-1 record against the Reds, Phillies, and Brewers. A rotation featuring Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow is among the most frightening in the league and is firing on all cylinders at the moment.
Given that combination of postseason experience, October dominance, and an All-Star rotation, it might seem hard to imagine Toronto being able to put up much of a fight against Los Angeles. After all, this is just the Jays’ third trip to the World Series in team history, and they’ve had to battle every step of the way to get here. They won the AL East off of a tiebreaker, and went to four games against the Yankees in the ALDS before spending their entire series against the Mariners on the back foot. While Kevin Gausman is one of the more reliable veterans in the game and Trey Yesavage has been a standout as a rookie this October, a rotation featuring that duo, 41-year-old Max Scherzer, and Shane Bieber’s first handful of starts post-Tommy John surgery doesn’t exactly inspire the same sort of confidence as L.A.’s quartet.
While some of those concerns are certainly valid, the Jays have several factors working in their favor as well as they try to bring home their first championship since 1993. They’ll have homefield advantage due to winning 94 games in the regular season, while the Dodgers won “only” 93 games. Toronto also has a powerful offense that may give the Dodgers’ pitching staff all they can handle.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been baseball’s best hitter this postseason with an utterly absurd .442/.510/.930 slash line and six home runs over 51 playoff plate appearances. Ohtani’s 143 wRC+ leads the Dodgers this postseason, but the Jays have four hitters ahead of him on the leaderboard: Guerrero, Ernie Clement, Springer, and Addison Barger. Springer in particular is a postseason standout who already has a World Series MVP award in his trophy case from the last time he faced the Dodgers in October. While Los Angeles has more than its share of prominent bats, Freddie Freeman (105 wRC+) has actually been slightly cold this October, and regular season standout Will Smith (89 wRC+) hasn’t looked the same while playing through a hairline fracture in his hand.
Speaking of injuries, the Blue Jays have made their deep playoff run without the services of star shortstop Bo Bichette, who is expected back in the lineup for the World Series. After a tough 2024 season, Bichette enjoyed a return to form this year, hitting .311/.357/.483 in 139 games with 18 homers and 44 doubles. Smith’s lackluster performance only serves to underscore the fact that Bichette may not perform at quite that level if he’s less than 100% healthy, but even a diminished version of Bichette should be able to boost Toronto’s lineup.
While the Dodgers have a big advantage in the rotation and the Blue Jays certainly have the hotter lineup, the relief battle may be a draw. Both teams had below-average bullpens this year during the regular season even after signing star closers (Jeff Hoffman in Toronto, Tanner Scott in Los Angeles) to hefty deals this past winter.
Both clubs have also used former rotation pieces in the bullpen to great effect this postseason, with Chris Bassitt (2 2/3 scoreless innings) and Roki Sasaki (eight innings of one-run ball) helping to offer some form of stability on the back-end. Sasaki has even emerged as the Dodgers’ closer throughout the postseason, while Hoffman (7 1/3 innings of one-run ball) has turned things around after a tough second half to dominate in October with a 42.9% strikeout rate so far. Sasaki’s run prevention has been just as impressive, but he’s done so in less dominant fashion with a strikeout rate of just 20.7%.
Who do MLBTR readers think will hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy this year? Will the Dodgers repeat as so many predicted they would this spring, or will the Blue Jays be able to secure their first championship since 1993? Have your say in the poll below:
Please Blue Jays!
I hope the Jays win, but the Dodgers are built for October.
game 7 will be on November 1
go Jays
The Dodgers are built for September.
the dodgers are built for April 15th tax day!
I can’t stand the Dodgers, but I also can’t stand Blue Jays fans in general. Completely overinflated idea of what their franchise has been and is. Hammer me if you want, but lots of those folks act like they have more World Series titles than the Yankees.
No they don’t, your problem is they play on the other side of an imaginary line and you don’t like it.
“@gomer33” Name checks out. 🙄
I really have no idea what you’re talking about. Most Jays fans are kinda depressed about following a team that has largely been a disappointment for the last three decades.
C-Daddy, rational Jays fans feel that way. It’s the overwhelming swath of obnoxious fans I was speaking of.
A Cubs fan calling another fanbase obnoxious. That’s something.
Dan, Cubs fans are used to losing and are nowhere close to being obnoxious because of baseball. Maybe because they’re drunk, but that’s it.
Smartest – How many felt after the Red Sox broke the curse. Their fans became ungodly insufferable. I almost missed 100 years of New England writers waxing poetic over their tribulations again
I guess that depends on what you think the Blue Jays are and have been. I have heard and Jays fans trying to take away anything from the Yankees legacy but I don’t know what the Yankees legacy has to do with the Jays. Most of this Yankees titles were from before the Jays existed.
This is false. Yankees media and fans are the most arrogant — by far. There are numerous examples. Michael Kay calling the Jays “not a ‘real’ first place team because of run differential, even though NYY had a +1 run differential against teams .500 or better this season (look it up). Jays moved into a tie for first place that same night, but Kay mocked the Jays a few days later: “You shouldn’t hang on the rim three minutes into the third quarter of a basketball game…Let’s hang onto the rim in October.” But the Jays did not relinquish first place…the Jays have 101 wins…and it is October — the Jays far outstripped the Yankees. Also, many Yankees fans and some media (A-Rod) said beating the Yankees was the Jays World Series. What? Yankees aren’t defending champions. And the Yankees aren’t in the World Series. But their yackers talk like the Yankees are all those things. A whiny bunch of entitled, arrogant jerks.
This time Ohtani really will be on a plane to Toronto.
the tm thats associated with the color blue will win the WS
guaranteed
I thought it would be the team that is associated with the color white…
The one with a little bit of red
Mlb is making sure Ohtani is the face of baseball. It won’t be close. Dodgers in 5 (or sweep)
I can’t stand the Dodgers, but are you saying his 3 hrs and 6 innings of 2 hit ball the other day were fake? Are you saying pitchers are told by mlb to throw meatballs to him? He became the face of baseball by being the most generational talent the game’s ever seen. Not because mlb wants him to be the face of the game.
what to hear about different baseballs during Judges HR romp?
smoke, fire yada yada
Where there is jealousy, there is speculation
I wasn’t there when Ohtani did that, could be ai, theoretically
Ohtani is not and never will be the most generational talent the game has ever seen. And Im not some vamping traditionalist. Babe Ruth will always without challenge hold that place – because it goes well beyond the game. Babe Ruth was an American and global icon who was more recognizable than Presidents. He was perhaps the most popular person on the planet during his age…and with Chaplin, the most recognizable. He also led entire TEAM categories on the field. Babe Ruth was quantifiable above his peers even on the TEAM level. Ohtani has yet to hit more Homer’s in a season than 3 entire teams. And he’s simply NOT as recognizable – even with his more global Asian presence. Baseball ITSELF simply doesn’t hold the national stage like it has in the past. Which will be shown in the upcoming World Series ratings where the games will be not only challenged by other sports – but other programming.
And I don’t even mean to slag Ohtani. It’s just he plays in a minimized game now. Ohtani might be the talent of his baseball generation…and could be of any baseball generation. But Babe Ruth was the talent of a WORLD generation. The absolute image of an entire era.
Did you not watch game 6 or 7 last night. How loud the Roger’s Centre got!? Especially after the George Springer homerun. I don’t think the Dodger pitches can handle that type of noise. My point is I can’t see a scenario where the blue Jays get swept.
We saw how they wilted under the bright lights in Philadelphia and Milwaukee.
5 dodger starting position players have lifetime ops over 1000 at Rodgers. I think they can handle it just fine.
Cynicism and nihilism are the new national religions. Everyone is suspect, and nothing has any meaning.
Be honest, is that your quote? because that’s an absolute gem of a line. (Almost churchilian)
This one is mine. Churchill never said half the things he said.
Oh please. Just say thanks without adding the quasi- intellectual snub- as if you’re in his league. You’re not.
Oh please try to grow a sense of humor.
Oh, that was supposed to be funny. uh huh.
Like I said.
Are we having fun yet?
Let’s not forget about his sponsors which plaster his ads to us.
If the MLB is making sure that someone is the face of baseball by giving them a WS (what I assume you’re implying), then why not do that with Judge? Or why not do it for the Angels when they had Trout and Ohtani?
Seems more likely that the Dodgers outspend everyone else by a lot and are winning because they are a super team. If MLB were rigging things, it would make sense to have this be a NYY vs LAD world series
So tired of this nonsense, never actually say anything but ridiculous statements. How exactly is the MLB “making sure” Ohtani?
You will never get an actual answer.
“Money” “ratings” that’s all you’ll hear.
Patriot: You’re right, MLB is making sure Ohtani is the face of baseball by making the “Ohtani Rule”:to keep him in games.
Does anyone disagree with the Ohtani rule? Seems logical. There is no reason to not allow that. People like two way players
Either way, I think we can all agree that Ohtani getting an extra at bat on days he pitches is not making him the face of baseball
I agree phantom. It’s bought and paid for. Dodgers in 5. Money talks. I have no inside knowledge or information but like I said money talks.
Clnc wouldn’t “THEY” Make more if it went 7 games?
That’s ridiculous. He’s the face of baseball because he’s an incredibly talented two way player. MLB doesn’t do anything to enforce that, it just happened naturally. That’s why even in the most remote parts of Canada, people know who he is.
Yeah, I’m an Astros fan, so Dodgers fans are never gonna love me and vice-versa, but I think where we can find harmony is that Ohtani is the best baseball player I’ve ever watched. He’s fast, he’s powerful, he throws gas, and he sometimes does all this stuff in the same game. He’s a living cheat code. I don’t want to be watching the Dodgers in October, but that’s overridden by absolutely wanting to watch Ohtani every October no matter what team he’s playing for. I think it’s OK to be sick of the Dodgers, but sit back and appreciate a generational talent who might be a true one of a kind while we have him.
Verlander2 – 100%
@Verlander2
As a dodgers fan, I don’t automatically dislike you or disagree with your thoughts because of the team you are a fan of.
Many many Astros fans stepped up and said what happened in 2017 was wrong. I appreciated the integrity shown. I’m a baseball fan first, Dodgers fan second.
But there was and is a very vocal group of fans defending it and being rather obnoxious about it. Those fans? I have no respect for.
I’m pretty sure it’s simply because he’s on the Dodgers. If he were balling with any other team he wouldn’t get nearly the hate. Dodgers don’t deserve him.
@futuregm12 He wouldn’t get nearly the attention either if he were somewhere else.
I seem to remember a major Bryce Harper push as the face of the league a while back.
Every MLB related commercial featured Bryce, and his cool hair.
I’m not complaining at all. Bryce deserved it. Just pointing out MLB always identifies a face of the game or three. Some are new, some are established, some are legacy. These days it’s Ohtani, Judge, etc.
If Vlad has a good showing in the world series, in certain he’ll be added to the mix. International player, charismatic, extremely talented, likable. Are you going to be upset if and when this happens?
MLB would love to add to the small list of players non baseball fans are familiar with.
Well, because his gambling deal was highly suspect for one. Thats tarnish
Why didn’t MLB rig the ALDS for the Yankees?
Dodgers will definitely win it all. But I’m horrible at guessing these things and am hoping that works in cursing Los Doyers chances. Lol.
Jays in 5, maybe 6
Dodgers are a stupid team.
Idiots.
Stupid good. I agree.
If I meant stupid good, I would have said that. It’s a dumb team and their fans are the absolute worst.
How am I the worst? I have my own list of reasons why someone might think I’m the worst. But I’d like an outside opinion. Thank you in advance for sharing your considerable knowledge in this area.
If the Dodgers don’t win it they should be ashamed with all their resources.
Making the WS is nothing to be ashamed of
Having double the payroll of your opponent and losing is an embarrassment
jays tried to sign ohtani, but they had to settle with vladdy for $500 million. it’s a shame they don’t have the resources of the dodgers.
Ohtani himself is a walking resource. Probably makes more money back for the team in marketing & jersey sales than ticket sales
It has nothing to do with “resources”. The Jays made either a “similar” or “identical” offer to Ohtani. I think he found the move from one LA team to another as enough of a transition.
Dodgers just BUY world championship. They don’t have the ability to win using their prospects.
I hope the Jays win the series, just to embarrass this organization that spends money like water.
Brian – you are tge reason why I am rooting for the Dodgers. If you think that spending money is the answer, then tell your team owner to spend more money. If that’s what makes fans angry then all teams should spend more more y and buy themselves a championship.
The idea that money is the only thing that wins is patently false.why aren’t the Yankees in the world series? Why didnt the Mets make the playoffs?
This is a game and a game is about winning. The owners have sold you this bull about the evils of money….so they can be cheap and pocket more profits. The CBA should be about a very high salary floor, but instead the cheap owners will make it about a ceiling or salary cap to rein in the overspending who are buying the wins.
Message to Mr. Nutting, you have the best SP in the game to market, spend some money and out a team around him instead of pocketing Skenes Night profits.
Go Dodgers!
@Brian, if the dodgers didnt produce those prospects then how are guys like Smith, Kershaw, Pages, and others still around while trading a good amount of current people they raised into the pro’s to turn into some of these high priced replacements? They have traded a LOT of good prospects over the last few years to acquire some of the talent they were willing to pay to stick around. Even just let some walk that are used everyday their position requires. They gave up resources for Mookie. Let others walk or traded them for depth for guys like Freeman. Lost guys like Belli to FA. Took chances on reclamation projects like Kike and Taylor and Muncy over the years. Didnt just buy everyone on their rosters.
There is almost a 400 million dollar revenue gap between the Dodgers and Pirates.
The Dodgers will run out of gas like they do almost every year.
15 NL West championships in the last 20 years and only 1 1/2 WS championships to show for it.
2
2020 was a half-season.
Oh wait… closer to a third-season..
No chance for them to run out of gas as usual… 2024 being the lone exception..
Baseball must be so hard for you right now. Prayers.
I respect the fact the Dodgers pull in $420 million more dollars in revenue each year than my Detroit Tigers. If the Tigers put the same percentage of revenue into player salaries as the Dodgers their payroll would be 233 million, less than half of the Dodgers
I respect the Dodgers spend more percentage wise on payroll than almost every other team in MLB.
Say what your want about the money they spend. Why isn’t your team spending a higher percentage of their revenue to win? League average of revenue spent on payroll is just over 45%. Dodgers percentage? Over 70%.
Guess who else is in the 70% range. Toronto Blue Jays.
Let me know when your team gets serious and puts their money into winning.
Dodgers, best team money can buy.
@Bruin1012
Dodgers, best team money did buy.
I fixed it for you ;o)
Mets had a higher payroll, so they’re the worst team money can buy?
No they didn’t the Dodgers have by far the highest payroll for lux tax purposes just a tick shy of 400 million.
@Bruin1012
That, is the number to go by.
Beating that Dodgers rotation 4/7 times will be a tall order but if there’s a team that can do it it’s these Blue Jays.
How cruel the baseball gods are to make me a Jays fan this year.
Coming from one evil empire about the newer better one.
Haha. Baseball leads us down funny paths sometimes. Even as a lifelong jays fan, I was pulling for you guys to beat the Dodgers last year as well 😀
Dream scenario is Myles Straw hitting a World Series-clinching homer off Roki Sasaki.
That’d be an amazing conclusion to that whole narrative
I’ll take Clayton Kershaw on the mound in the 14th inning striking out George Springer as a fantasy ending.
Certainly a fantasy if it’s Kershaw doing well in the playoffs 😉
My fantasy ending of Walker getting the final out in the World Series last year came true so keep up your hopes
That is a dream.
Or Ernie hitting a grand slam on Ohtani…..
As much as I want Toronto to win, it looks like a repeat for Dave Roberts.
Looks like a lot of people voting for who they Want to win over who they actually Think will win
I’ve picked against the Jays all year at every turn and I’ve been wrong every time. So now that I’m finally giving in and picking them to win this time, surely it will curse them 😭
Take it back MeowMeow… take it back! Lol. Honestly the Blue Jays are a pretty well balanced ball club and getting Bichette back should also help but I agree with C-Daddy… winning 4 out of 7 against a healthy starting rotation of Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani while also silencing their lethal bats is a mighty tall order. They ripped through the Reds (no surprise), Phillies and Brewers rather easily. It’s gotta be the Dodgers. Curses!
Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry, what I meant was that the Jays have no chance, obviously.
I have no dog in this fight but going to.be rooting for the Blue Jays simply because of their championship drought. I don’t count the Dodgers out, not by a long shot. This probably gets decided in seven games.
I despise both teams tbh, it’s a good thing that the NFL season is almost halfway in and I can enjoy football instead!!
Oh wait, I’m a Jets fan….
🙁
Try being a fan of Chicago sports. You know how bad it is here? I had die hard White Sox fans that hate the Cubs rooting for the Cubs on this playoff run! I asked them, and they’re like, we’re starving for good sports teams lol
I have seen the same ….plus we been waiting 40 years for a Superbowl but don’t get me started on our DA BEARS!
Blackhawks in the 2010s, Sox in 05, Cubsters in 2016, Bulls throughout the 90s and DA BEARS in 86.
Depending on who your squads are it can’t be THAT bad lol. I’ve been alive for 5 Yankees WS titles and got to see my Rangers lift the Cup in 94 but my Knicks and Jets want me to start drinking malt liquor again based on the absolute heartbreak they have exposed me to since I born in a Long Island hospital back in the early 80s.
Lol in our defense the Cubs took forever and we only got one!
We were definitely spoiled by the Jordan dynasty but the Bulls have been terrible for a long time now. Definitely got a point with the Blackhawks we got three championship trophies!
The Bears are our biggest drought now…
White Sox, that’s not happening anytime soon.
Craven you still have best name ever !!!! And always crack me up ….thanks man. But it’s been a rough ride for Chicago sports it’s been 10 years for the hawks 9 for the cubs . Da bears 40 years for us who got to see those 80s teams it was fantastic.
Appreciate you Yankees fan in Chi-town.
Also, about to shock some people here…
I’m actually female (those are my legs/feet in my pfp)
*gasps* They do exist!
I’m dead serious lol.
Cool, a female Yankeee fan lol
I just know guys that follow baseball. Their wives just tag along to cheer along with their husbands lol
I’m also of Italian ancestry so I’m literally the worst
A Yankee fan, and a female paisan? You’d fit right in with half the people I know lol
You’re a Yankee fan so that’s the half they’d all collectively hate you for haha
Craven that’s so awesome! Your hilarious and I’m Italian as well . My family is from Jersey ….more the merrier for just about everything especially baseball!
So Craven what’s your word series prediction?
My world series prediction is that I’m not going to watch the world series (bc I detest both teams) and watch reruns of Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack instead
Too funny ….I have feeling you may check in on it …. Loved that show
Blue Jays in 6. Joe Carter style.
False. I would root for North Korea if they played the Dodgers.
Sense of humor much??
Rivalries are real. Insanity is rooting for the Dodgers, if you ask me. But hey, to each their own!
Dodgers get scapegoated because other owners choose profit over winning, but no one wants to have that conversation..
While that is true to some extent, The large market teams have resources so far beyond a great many other teams is ridiculous. The Brewers cannot spend what the Dodgers spend. They do not make that kind of revenue..
When you open a business in Milwaukee, you open it knowing full well you’re gonna have less resources than a similar business in LA.
Right, but this is a national “company”. In reality, we would see the dodgers just buy up the Brewers. But in sports, parity is best for the game. That’s why the NFL does better in the smaller markets than does MLB. Its baked in, so whether this is better or not is up to you.
NFL has 11 different Super Bowl winners over last 25 years. MLB has 16.
Yes, but that also speaks to the difference in the games. A single elite player at one position can dominate the NFL. Shohei and Trout both couldn’t do that for the Angels. So a little bit apples to oranges on that. But i mean the economic opportunity, not necessarily results.
13* NFL, 17* MLB.
And yet that single dominant player has his market value limited because of a cap while the owner makes however much they can off said player’s success.
I not necessarily fighting for a cap. I’m simply saying, there is an economic imbalance and if it were more economically fair, we wouldn’t have this issue as much. Personally i am for a cap like system that would account for the total revenue of the sport to be split between owners and players, to be agreed upon. But the owners will never allow their books to be read by a third party, not to mention the players themselves.
“A single elite player can dominate” in the NFL …but surely this could only apply to the quarterback position though right ??? And still, have we ever had an elite NFL team with only an elite QB and the rest of the team average to mid? Football is a team sport like any other.
Dodgers, due to their market, likely profit more than other teams as well.
Ef the cheater George Springer he doesn’t deserve another ring.
Is that Shakespeare?
A nobody with a grudge against a somebody for something that happened 8 years ago is weird and sad.😢
I don’t have a problem if someone, especially the way baseball works, comes out and says i made a mistake and I’m sorry. Or even that punishment was given and served. Ok, you do the crime, you do the time and its over. But that’s not what happened, they still do not admit any fault and no punishment was given. So they didn’t ask for forgiveness and so there is none to give.
Punishment was given to who was responsible. The players were doing what their coach was telling them to do.
That is absurd.
Hell yeah the Nuremberg defense. Works every time.
Who cares is a better question (I mean, outside of Toronto and L.A.). Couple rich teams at it again. Which hundred-millionaire is slightly hotter in this moment than the other one. Whatever.
And yet, you have a registered account on a website that deals exclusively with said millionaires competing against each other and took time out of your day to comment on it? Weird way to spend time on something you don’t care about.
I have never been a bigger Blue Jays fan than I am right now. Even when the mascot of my elementary school was a Blue Jay, I still didn’t like them. But now for the next week and a half I am singing O Canada.
Definitely rooting for the Canadians to win the World Series.
I’m rooting for the Blue Jays to have a good showing in a losing battle.
Best of all worlds 🙂
I don’t want either team to win. But if I have to choose, I’d pick the new evil empire over a cheater (sorry for the rest of his teammates who have to own his misdeeds, I even like Vlady).
Teoscar Hernandez of the Dodgers was also on that 2017 Astros team. Springer was not the only one.
He played 1 game! And didn’t even have a PA. He was a new player. He wasnt a leader on that team. He was 24 with like 50 total games in MLB, most in ’16.
Bob, I hope hiflew was being sarcastic in his comment.
Maybe he was just being technically correct sans common sense.
He wasn’t.
He still got a ring….. and a buzzer.
Thank you for picking up on the sarcasm. But it was also just a shot at someone that thinks Springer was the only person ever stealing signs. There are probably at least 10 players on EVERY team that was involved in something similar, but the Astros are the only ones that got ratted out.
That excuses is like saying, well yeah the guy beat his wife, but you know, he wasn’t the only one, just the one that got caught. So we shouldn’t be too hard on him, because everyone does it.
Except one is a horrific crime against another human being and the other is knocking on a trash can. I think your analogy is far more egregious than anyone cheating at a game.
Sign stealing is tradition in baseball. It’s not cheating.
Using electronic means to steal those signs? Not traditional, and against the rules. Cheating.
The only difference between the two is the degree of the crime, but the logic is identical. So, as Mr Spock would say, your argument is illogical.
Seeing a pitcher tip pitches and telling your team isn’t illegal. That’s something which should be self scouted.
Seeing what a pitcher is going to pitch from second and relaying that to the batter likewise isn’t illegal. And they should be self scouted as well.
Using a camera to see the catchers signs and relaying that to the batter is 100% illegal and is spelled out in the rules of this game of baseball.
Edit: Removed snarky comments.
Life is too short and you are tiresome. Believe whatever you want to believe, just do it away from me.
@bob99 Are you actually trying to make an analogy between how fans may forget/forgive Springer’s role in a team wide scheme led by Cora and Beltran to forgetting violence against a woman done by any one of a long list of players?
The degree of criminality is a huge part a determining what the punishment should be for someone (blame MLB as a whole if you’re unhappy with the Astros punishment). Specifically, the intent of the individual; those are completely different in a domestic violence case and electronic sign stealing.
Trying to make an analogy between two quite different examples of bad conduct seems imprudent. The punishment or lack thereof along with degree of criminality is a huge part of fans recall of fail to recall exactly what someone did wrong.
But I’m a nurse not a lawyer, but did watch every Law & Order (not the new ones those are subpar) !
My argument, paddyo, is that the defense of “Well everyone else was doing it, so we shouldn’t hold them accountable just because they were the ones that got caught” is not a viable argument. The logical inconsistency still exists regardless of the severity. The whole point of introducing such severity is to show the consistency of the logic, to which neither you nor hiflew have argued against. I’m sure law and order would have made the exact analogy at some point in that show. Its gone on long enough.
Your argument boils down to, its just a game and its not important enough to care, and that’s fine. But then its also not important enough to villainize the rest of us who feel its within our right to hold a sports grudge to the end of time.
I agree with your point largely. I was not excusing what the Astros did; I only recently stopped calling them the Asterisks. As a Dodger fan, I very much disliked the lack of punishment. But like other issues in the last few decades like PEDs, the MLB (the owners) is more at fault for the larger issue than anyone player.
As many have said here, great pitching will stop great hitting and the Dodgers have had the great pitching in the playoffs so I’d say Dodgers win in 5 games. Dodgers are all about total run suppression dominance. They’re striking out nearly 30% of batters and allowing very few homers or hits on balls in play.
That is fair enough to say, but ask the other teams that rely on strikeouts how hard that is against this Blue Jays team. They simply don’t strike out like everyone else, and they don’t have to rely on the long ball to win games (although, they have received plenty of that this postseason).
It’s definitely going to be a battle of strengths. Toronto has the bats to run up a pitch count and do damage with mistake pitches.
That being said, I like the Dodgers pitchers chances of minimizing damage.
I picked the Dodgers, but the home field advantage was definitely a big factor last night. It’s going to be a challenging environment for them to play in.
As it was supposed to be in Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Watching the ALCS the Jays fans were really great. It’s going to be a total World Series environment in both Toronto and LA.
Toronto has a great fan base and it was loud.
But the Dodgers have a sold out crowd every night of the year, except against the worst teams. Home is always around 50k and on the road they average over 35k at opposing stadiums.
So I don’t think the Dodgers will be affected by a sold out stadium of fans going crazy. They also went through both NY teams last year, plus Philadelphia.
I do think the Blue Jays will get juiced from their home crowd, which is always cool to see.
It took a while to get there. Longtime fans remember the very empty dome from the late-90s up until the early 2010s, while clamouring for a Stanley Cup that never came. The Jays fans from the 70s to the 90s gave us the new generation of fans who are grown now.
The Dodgers scored more runs and allowed fewer than the Jays over the regular season, including a stretch where both the rotation and bullpen were a mess, and some big parts of the lineup were absent. Not an issue now. The Dodgers’ bullpen is still questionable, but then the Jays have the same weakness. All in all, advantage Dodgers. But it’s the World Series, so anything can happen and probably will.
Yet the Blue Jays won more games! Winning games is the only thing that matters. All else is background noise.
One more game out of 162. This is called background noise. And last I checked, outscoring the other team is how you win in baseball. But feel free to check my work.
That didn’t help the Phillies and Brewers
Winning games in the postseason …. If the regular season records matters, then the Dodgers of the last decade are one of the greatest dynasties in MLB history.
It’s the greatest paradox Dodger haters face. All their regular season success is irrelevant because only the postseason matters, except for one specific year where the regular season actually is the most important thing and the postseason didn’t count at all.
Winning the last game of the season is what matters.
Everything else is secondary.
I love and hate this World Series.
I don’t want to root for the Dodgers, but I don’t want to root for a Canadian team either. Yet despite not caring for either team, so many great individual players and storylines I can’t wait to see unfold.
Each side has some of the most exciting players in the game (Ohtani, Vlad Jr.), ageless wonders known for their heroics (Freeman, Springer), generational pitchers we’re never going to see on this stage again (Kershaw, Scherzer), and a closer who’s become downright electric after a mediocre regular season (Sasaki, Hoffman). Not to mention my guy Mookie Betts going for his FOURTH WS ring!
Whoever wins, I hope it goes 7. This one could really be a classic.
I wanted anyone but LAD to come out of the NL. I’d have anyone in the AL over Toronto. Hope the Dodgers win this one and get bounced in the first round every year after.
Kind of where I’m at. Holding my nose and leaning LAD because at least they’re US-based and I love Mookie, but it’s not a temporary bandwagon I could at least get genuinely excited for unlike the M’s or Brewers. They were the lesser of two evils last year also so I was really hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this again, but oh well. Maybe next year.
I am not sure why some fans have such an issue rooting for a team in Canada.
“They’re too polite!” or “this isn’t hockey!” are my nicest guesses on why a fan would have a difficult time rooting for Toronto.
Maybe it’s just some random fickle thing like a midwesterner might say “I’d root for the Jays if they were in Calgary!”
People constantly elevating Canadians as a whole onto a pedestal to congratulate them for being so polite is one reason I don’t care for them, thanks for the reminder. If you really don’t think they’re capable of being just as nasty as anyone else, go to a Maple Leafs or Canadiens game.
Nowhere in my comment did I say Canadians aren’t capable of being as nasty as the rest of the roudy fans at a sporting event. That’s a cross-section of humans that most folks do
not want to be around.
You see it more in hockey and football in North America. Across the globe, fútbol/soccer fans can be just as shameful.
That’s usually not about one country. That’s more about poor male behavior with alcohol being a strong factor.
I’m aware you didn’t explicitly say that, but one would have to believe that in order to dislike them for being too polite, would they not?
As for my comment the “general you” works just fine there instead of reading that as directed to you specifically.
Speaking for myself—I’m an O’s fan and I dislike Toronto completely. Longstanding rivalry there. I’d be perfectly happy to see Jeff Hoffman blow the series.
I’d have preferred the Yankees or the Sox to Toronto but that might not be a popular opinion amongst O’s fans. Can’t forget Buck pitching Ubaldo over Britton in the playoffs to lose that game.
People should not cheer for the Jays because the team is based in Canada. They should cheer for them because they are not just a collection of all stars assembled with though money and influence.
The Jays play with joy. Watch Vlad and Clement and Springer joke around. They have smiles on their faces. Lukes was a minor league vet contemplating retirement. Straw was relegated to AAA last year. Kirk was signed for $25,000. Jimenez was a salary dump. IKF was “overpaid” and management got roasted for picking him over a big name 3B last year. The Jays supposedly lost the Varsho trade. Hoffman had a bum shoulder.
Most of these guys struggled somewhere else and somehow have gelled.
Its fun to watch them succeed.
Hey jbigz12, why wouldn’t you have preferred the Mariners as opposed to holding your nose and preferring the Red Sox or Yankees, to go against the Dodgers ??? (Just seems like if you’re an O’s fan, and that’s the reason you don’t like the BJ’s, that you would equally not like the RS or Yanks in that spot; and so prefer the Mariners, who just about made it lol.)
The Mariners played with joy and were totally egoless as well. It wasn’t just a Blue Jay thing.
I was talking about division rivals. I didn’t want Toronto to win the most out of our division. I was rooting hard for Seattle.
Don’t care anymore
I am with you on that
Haven’t you noticed? Its not been a good year for the USA. Elbows up!
Do you watch cnn all day stym?
I don’t have access to any of the news channels. I get my news from MLBtraderumors.com
Smartest in so many ways it has been a great year….my only question is has a MLB player EVER have a better single game than Ohtani? I have been witness to a lot of great players and teams but my goodness starting pitcher in lcs hits 3 homers one of which left the stadium 🏟️ if he just hit that one homer and did NOTHING ELSE we all would still talking about that…
What we are being blessed to witness is historic…..and as a Yankee fan and huge Babe Ruth fan and history of the best sport! Ohtani is just special we haven’t seen anything close. In a time where everyone makes the smallest achievements turned into legendary status …..it almost feels like we are underappreciating him….This world series has a vibe of 88 dodgers having zero chance to beat the Mets and even less to beat the mighty A’s ….they pulled it off the Jays keep making it happen so it will be a blast to watch ….
It’s been an amazing year how? I’d like to hear this lol.
Real sports have salary caps.
Go watch a real sport then.
BEAT L A !!!
To the showers…
if the dodgers win it is just putting a point on how broken baseball is right now
And if the Mets had won this year?
the mets didn’t win the world series last year and don’t have 1 billion dollars in deferments, though they shouldn’t have the payroll that they do either
Don’t care. George Springer canceled the 2025 World Series as far as I’m concerned.
What’s your issue with Springer?
Cheaters don’t get chicken.
Sorry, your name demanded it.
No matter who “wins” they both and MLB lost.
You win…worst comment.
If the Mariners had won last night, I logically couldn’t have even picked them to beat LA. The Dodgers aren’t losing this series. I think it’ll end in 5.
Can it at least be entertaining? The ALCS was great, NLCS the Brewers didn’t even show up to make it halfway decent.
Dodgers will have to arrive a day earlier to account for the very long line in Customs….
It’s strange though…the lineups are very long to get into Canada, but there’s no lineup at all heading south. It must be the exchange rate that is the reason…
Who would bet on the Dodgers to win, oh sorry never mind
Fanduel currently has the Dodgers at +220 and the Jays at -184. However, sportsbooks are not in the business of picking winners.
YBC… I think you have reversed… no way are the Dodgers a 2-1 underdog… they are heavy favorites… can only hope for a Reds vs A’s outcome from 90’s…
Yes. I do. -220/+184.
I remember that world series and nobody saw that coming. It was great
YBC what do you mean that sportsbooks aren’t in the business of picking winners ?? I thought the odds are a reflection of where the money is going currently, and if the Dodgers are -220 that tells you more people think the Dodgers are going to win.
Buddy Kennedy will win.
Hmmm…it’s interesting that the “American” League champions are a team from Not America.
Perhaps it’s time for a more accurate name change…
The geographically challenged enter the chat.
BlueSkies….Please explain your logic behind the off the cuff remark.
North America includes Canada…….
You can’t be serious?
If you know what a globe is your mind will be blown when you see North America and if you look South and see South America, you just might pass out.
Best One
Canada is part of North America
🙂
So….back to my original point….maybe it should be called “North American League” instead?
At this point in time many Canadians probably wish they weren’t — but yes, this is the correct answer.
I don’t get into politics, I have enough negativity in my life already being a lifelong NY Jets fan.
Dodgers in 4
Dodgers in 6. The Blue Jays offense will get them one and the Dodgers bullpen will give up one. But the Dodgers starters are so much better than the Jays. They are way better than the Seattle starters they just saw.
If George Springer wasn’t on the team and the Jays ended up beating my Dodgers, then I’d be ok with it. But, I can’t bare to watch that cheater get another ring.
Rooting for the Jays–or rather, against the Dodgers. But I expect LA to win easily.
Either way, the baseball gods are doing a hell of a job trolling the Phillies.
Love the Jays and have been a Jay’s fan all my life. If they lose to the Dodgers then the Dodgers were the better team so I will tip my cap. Hope it goes to 7 games. That would be great.
I think LA wins WS easily, 4-1, …with 4-0 more likely than 4-2 even. Hoping Toronto bats keep pounding and make me wrong. LA has 3 HOF players in daily lineup. The fact LA has not won often is even more reason I
believe they won’t let this opportunity pass.
I’d love to know who the U.S. president is rooting for. On the one hand, Canada, the unruly neighbor to the north. On the other hand, L.A., the malevolent city riddled with crime and deployed National Guardsmen. What a dilemma! Would he invite either to the White House, as is customary, or would he barter for tariff deals or increased ICE raids? Before you yell at me for “bringing politics into baseball,” there’s nothing political about this. It will literally be a problem (on the right) regardless of the winner 😂
I know at first glance this looks like a conundrum for the President, but at the end of the day, he absolutely despises our country and everything it stands for. He is actively Making America Last in every conceivable category, so obviously he would be rooting for the Blue Jays. Love the question Philly!!!
He won’t be rooting for anyone. Rooting for other grown men is for broke losers with nothing going for them in their own lives.
Trump: Real America is superior to both these loser places. The Gulf of America was once like Canada. Not America. But look now. America. The 51st state may win, but Toronto will be just like Chicago soon- overrun with illegals and I’ll have to send some ICE to cool things off. I see Darth Vader is here. Vader. Darth they call him. I knew a guy named Garth. Hung out with this other guy named Wayne. They had their own world. I want one too.
If Bo can come back and Mad Max can help they got a shot against the hollywood dodgers.
Jays will win in 6 games.
As a yankees fan, I cannot stand either team. For obvious reasons. But go dodgers. Not over the world series from last year, but I dislike the blue jays more. The yankees need to get some bullpen arms
Those Toronto jersey patches are hideous. Not as bad as Seattle. Actually attempted to watch a game but couldn’t because of those patches.
Watched all of the NL series. Star players. Elite pitchers. Why LA NY are so popular. Other teams and their no name players are boring in comparison. I want to see Ohtani Judge. Skenes can’t get out of Pittsburgh fast enough to join them.
@SITR You realize pretty much all of the western hemisphere is “America”?
Look at a map/atlas/globe its all considered part of the America’s. The United States of America are as “America” as Canada and Mexico being in North AMERICA, and Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are “AMERICA” being in South AMERICA, as Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize (along with the Caribbean) being Central AMERICA.
Though pretty much every educated person will tell you what country they are from when traveling instead of just saying I am from America instead of people from one of those countries. Few will tell you I am from the US, or United States (are they actually “United”). They just say i am from America, then when questioned where they say “the United states” and maybe then which state.
Yankee fan here. I’m unfortunately rooting for Toronto. Donnie baseball deserves a ring
Don has been in the league since 1983. He can wait another year lol
Dodgers
Then they buy more of all of the best FAs.
Money is no object.
Probably trade for Skubal and Skenes too….
They do need a fifth starter now that Kershaw is retiring.
Blue Jays in seven games! For the first time since 1987, the home team will win all the games.
we all know who is winning this