There isn’t a doubt the Toronto Blue Jays and their followers are driving excessive, cresting on the wings of Alex Bregman’s legend-making three-run residence run within the backside of the seventh inning of Sport 7’s 4-3 comeback victory and first World Collection look in 32 years.
It doesn’t matter what occurs from this level on, the 2025 season has been a hit.
That’s good. As a result of nearly everybody on the earth can be selecting the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their second title in a row.
It’s comprehensible. L.A.’s pitching workers is within the midst of an all-time postseason heater, having held the Milwaukee Brewers to 1 run in every sport of the NLCS and simply 14 hits of their four-game sweep, a historic run of dominance that started within the NLDS in opposition to the Phillies. Now, the Blue Jays’ vaunted lineup should discover a option to break via in opposition to a Dodgers rotation that was just about impenetrable within the first three rounds of the postseason.
Whereas the chances will not be excessive that Toronto will upset the Dodgers within the World Collection, it’s not an impossibility. In reality, there are actual causes Jays followers ought to really feel hopeful their birds can pull off the upset.
When your finest participant is having a playoff for the ages, you’ve gotten an excellent shot to go all the way in which. And Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is assaulting opposing pitching this October.
Winner of the ALCS MVP, Guerrero has slugged six homers within the postseason to this point and piled up 12 RBIs, greater than anybody else within the event. He has struck out simply thrice, is hitting .442 with a .510 on-base share and an OPS of 1.440. Towards Seattle he went 10-for-26 (.385 AVG) with 3 HRs, 22 whole bases and a 1.330 OPS.
Shohei Ohtani could also be the most effective participant in baseball, however Guerrero is the most effective hitter left within the playoffs, and he’s coming via on the sport’s largest stage.
Toronto has slugged 20 HRs, tied with the Mariners for many within the postseason. They’ve scored 71 runs in 11 video games, a mean of 6.4 runs per sport. By comparability, the Dodgers have scored 4.6, which isn’t dangerous, but additionally isn’t nice. The Jays are averaging 10.4 hits per sport with 115 whole within the playoffs. The subsequent closest groups, the Mariners and Dodgers, have 88.
George Springer has launched 4 bombs, together with the one which despatched them to the Fall Basic on Monday evening, catcher Alejandro Kirk has slammed three, and the underside of the lineup – Addison Barger, Andres Gimenez, Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement and Isiah Kiner-Falefa – have completed injury as nicely.
Oh, and Bo Bichette, who completed third within the American League in hits regardless of lacking the ultimate three weeks, is anticipated to return to the lineup for Sport 1, though becoming Bichette and Springer into the identical lineup could possibly be problematic, given each are coping with leg accidents and will not be capable to be within the discipline.
In brief, your complete lineup is smoking the ball, piling up numerous base hits and dingers. The house runs are significantly vital. Groups that out-homer their opponents are 24-5 this postseason and have been 23-8 final yr. As ESPN’s Sarah Langs famous, 44.5% of all runs have been scored through the house run this October, up from 41.1% within the common season, and down barely from 47.0% in final yr’s playoffs.
The Dodgers’ pitching workers has been straight hearth over the previous couple of weeks, hanging out 24.8% of hitters to this point within the playoffs. They now face a Toronto offense that, whereas hitting for energy, has additionally struck out lower than any staff in baseball this yr, simply 17.8% of the time.
The Milwaukee Brewers had an analogous profile, albeit with out the facility, hanging out simply 20.3% of the time, tied for 4th-lowest, however they struck out 41 instances in 4 video games in opposition to the Dodgers, just a bit over 10 whiffs per sport of their four-game defeat.
If the Blue Jays can keep away from Milwaukee’s destiny and use their excellent bat-to-ball expertise in opposition to a superior Dodgers rotation, maybe they stand an opportunity.
Jeff Hoffman had an up-and-down season as Toronto’s nearer and completed the season with a 4.37 ERA and 33 saves. He was price -0.4 fWAR. Nonetheless, over the past month, he’s posted a 0.84 ERA over 10.2 innings, and his three-strikeout save to complete off Sport 7 was ridiculously efficient.
Braydon Fisher (1.85 ERA), Eric Lauer (1.76), and Yariel Rodriguez (2.88) type a dynamic set-up trio for Toronto, with starter Chris Bassitt accessible for top leverage outs, as evidenced by his eighth inning scoreless inning in Sport 7.
It’s a enormous benefit over the Dodgers’ bullpen, which Los Angeles will try and keep away from utilizing in any respect prices. To this point, their starters have been profitable in making their shaky bullpen a moot level, however in opposition to a extra affected person and relentless Toronto lineup, they might not have that luxurious within the World Collection.
The Dodgers completed off their four-game sweep of the Brewers final Friday. Sport 1 of the World Collection is that this Friday. That’s seven days between video games for Los Angeles. The Jays, in the meantime, may have 4 days earlier than ramping issues again up once more.
Is that week off for the Dodgers sufficient of a delay to derail what their rotation was doing via the primary three rounds? Or will the time without work have an effect on each groups equally?
Additionally, the Blue Jays have residence discipline benefit within the World Collection, by advantage of ending with extra wins (94) than the Dodgers (93). That didn’t are available in too helpful within the ALCS after they misplaced the primary two video games at residence, however it positive gave the impression to be a superb factor for them in successful Video games 6 and seven at Rogers Middle.
