After a long postseason, the World Series is finally here. While some years feature underdog teams, like the 2023 series with the Diamondbacks and Rangers, that is not the case this year, when the Los Angeles Dodgers will play the Toronto Blue Jays.
It is not surprising that the Blue Jays are in the World Series. They ended the regular season with a 94-68 record and got a first-round bye week. In the ALDS, they won the series against their division rival, Yankees, with ease. The team moved on to play the Mariners and they won the series in seven games.
Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having a standout postseason. He’s hitting .442 with six home runs in 11 games. He is not the only one having a great postseason, though, with Ernie Clement hitting .429 and Nathan Lukes hitting .333. George Springer has also been amazing, hitting four home runs, with one of them being the game-winning home run in Game 7 of the ALCS.
Their pitching had been good but not great. Veteran Kevin Gausman has been their best pitcher, only giving up four runs in four outings. They also have Shane Bieber and rookie Trey Yesavage in the rotation, but that will not be a challenge for the Dodgers offense.
The Dodgers have been unstoppable this postseason. They swept the Reds in the wild card, beat the Phillies in the NLDS 3-1, and then swept the first-seed Brewers in the NLCS.
Just like every year, the Dodgers simply have great confidence. They are comfortable in these situations and just come up clutch. In Game 4 of the NLCS, Shohei Ohtani had a historic game, hitting three home runs and then pitching six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts.
Every starting pitcher for Los Angeles has been lights out too. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow both have a sub-one ERA, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a 1.83 ERA, and Ohtani has a 2.25 ERA. Their closer, Roki Sasaki, has also been amazing, having a 1.13 ERA with three saves.
Even though the Blue Jays are a great team and have had a great season, the Dodgers should be able to run through them, like they have done to every other team. They should be able to win the World Series for the second year in a row.
The series will start tonight at 8 p.m. when Blake Snell will face off against Trey Yesavage.
