Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The World Series has finally arrived after a week of waiting, and the Dodgers will meet the top seeded Toronto Blue Jays in Canada to begin the Fall Classic. Los Angeles swept the Milwaukee Brewers last Friday resulting in an entire week off, whereas Toronto went seven games against the Seattle Mariners, with their series being decided late Monday night. Toronto’s ace, Kevin Gausman, ended up throwing one inning out of the bullpen in that game, which in turn puts the rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage in line to start Game 1 of the World Series. Blake Snell is having an unbelievable postseason thus far, and will look to earn his fourth win in four attempts this October.
Alex previewed the matchup between these two sides, and provided much more detail there than what I’d put in a Game Thread, so please check that out. Separately, both Will Klein and Edgardo Henriquez were added to the roster over Alex Vesia and Ben Casparius.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 5:00 PM | Toronto | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | DH | Springer |
| SS | Betts | LF | Schneider |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | 1B | Guerrero Jr. |
| C | Smith | 2B | Bichette |
| RF | T. Hernández | C | Kirk |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | CF | Varsho (L) |
| LF | K. Hernández | 3B | Clement |
| 2B | Edman (S) | RF | Straw |
| CF | Pages | SS | Giménez (L) |
| P | Snell (L) | P | Yesavage (R) |
The Dodgers keep things as expected, with their standard lineup against right-handed pitching. This will probably be their starting nine for the majority of this series due to the lack of left-handed starters for Toronto. The Dodgers’ offense has been the second best amongst all playoff teams trailing only the Jays…which makes sense as they’ve both reached the World Series, however the offense hasn’t been spectacular as a whole for the majority of this run.
They’re averaging 4.6 runs per game and have a .770 team OPS. Shohei Ohtani was having a very rough postseason at the plate until Game 4 against Milwaukee, when he put together probably the greatest individual game ever with three homers and six shutout innings on the mound. They scored 15 runs in the four games against the Brewers and haven’t score more than five runs in a game since in the Wild Card round.
They don’t necessarily need to hit better to win this series, but it sure would help.
The Jays’ starting shortstop, Bo Bichette, makes his return to the field tonight after last playing September 6, due to a left knee sprain. He can really hit, but he’s among the worst defensive shortstops in baseball and will be playing second base, a position he hasn’t played since 2019. Bichette hit .311 this year with an .840 OPS in 139 games, including an .891 OPS against left-handed pitching. It appears the Jays are comfortable taking the risk that Bichette presents defensively in order to add his bat against the left-handed Snell who has been nearly unhittable. Additionally, they are stacking the right-handed bats tonight, with Nathan Lukes (.791 OPS) and Addison Barger (.889 OPS) both available off the bench.
Here’s how the two offenses have fared in the postseason thus far.
| 2025 Postseason | Dodgers | Blue Jays |
| AVG | .256 | .296 |
| OBP | .340 | .355 |
| OPS | .770 | .878 |
| wRC+ | 113 | 143 |
| K% | 23.7% | 14.8% |
| BB% | 8.9% | 7.7% |
| HR | 13 | 20 |
Once again, go check out Alex’s preview. It details the performances by each offense leading up to the World Series, and I’ll post an except from that piece.
The Jays lineup has been historic this postseason. They’ve had eight players with 40 or more plate appearances this postseason and Alejandro Kirk‘s .752 OPS is the lowest among them. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has a cool .442/.510/.930 slash line in 11 postseason games and has six homers, six walks and only three strikeouts in 51 plate appearances. Ernie Clement doesn’t have the big dinger numbers, but still has a 1.063 OPS and only two strikeouts in 45 plate appearances. George Springer is 11-for-46, but nine of those 11 hits have gone for extra bases with five doubles and four homers. Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho are also OPSing over .800 and each have two homers.
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Here’s how the two starters compare.
| 2025 Postseason | Snell – 21 IP (3-0) | Yesavage – 15 IP (2-1) |
| ERA | 0.86 | 4.20 |
| WHIP | 0.52 | 1.13 |
| FIP | 1.18 | 3.54 |
| BAA | .090 | .189 |
| K% | 38.9% | 36.1% |
| BB% | 6.9% | 11.5% |
Snell has been phenomenal this postseason, allowing just two earned runs in 21.0 innings with 28 strikeouts and allowing just six hits and five walks. He allowed both earned runs back in the Wild Card Series against the Reds, and has followed that up with two scoreless outings against the Brewers and the Phillies, both on the road. Dominant stuff from a true ace in peak form. Snell faced the Blue Jays back in the beginning of August, and went five scoreless innings on three hits, three walks, and ten strikeouts. I’m sure both him and the Jays will have adjusted off of that outing, so we’ll see who comes out on top.
The right-handed Yesavage was drafted last year out of East Carolina University with the 20th overall pick in the draft. He’s just 22 years-old, started the year in Single-A, and is now starting Game 1 of the World Series, which is a pretty great story for him and his career. He made just three starts with the Jays before the postseason, with a 3.21 ERA in 14.0 innings, and has now surpassed that in the playoffs with 15 innings across three starts. He started Game 2 of the Division Series against the Yankees with a dominant showing, going 5.1 innings of no-hit ball with eleven strikeouts to just one walk. His second outing came against the Mariners in Game 2 of the Championship Series where he allowed five runs over four innings on four hits, three walks, and just four strikeouts, coming back to earth a bit. He earned his second win in three appearances in Game 6 of the ALCS, allowing just two earned runs over 5.2 innings. That outing was very dicey however, as he loaded the bases in the third and fourth innings and induced two double-plays to escape both jams. Seattle also hit into another double-play the next inning, and Yesavage gave up two hits including a home run to open the sixth.
He has an extreme over the top delivery, with an arm angle at 64 degrees, an angle only matched by Jeremiah Estrada of the Padres (who the Dodgers have seen well). He throws his mid-90’s four-seam fastball nearly half the time, mixed in with a slider in the upper-80’s and a splitter in the mid-80’s. He splits that up by going four-seam and splitter heavy against lefties, and a slider heavy approach against right-handed batters. With Snell on the mound and a rookie who has been a bit rough at times, this game is one the Dodgers should really be looking to pick up. Toronto has their top option Kevin Gausman starting tomorrow, and while Yamamoto is better, the gap between the two is narrower than today.
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First pitch is at 5:00 PT on FOX.
