The World Series has returned to Canada with a thump.
Thirty-two years after the Toronto Blue Jays ended the 1993 Fall Classic on a spectacular home run from Joe Carter, the Jays basically picked up where they left off, clubbing three dingers — including a pinch-hit grand slam from Addison Barger — to dump the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 in Game 1 of the 2025 Series.
The Jays exploded for nine runs in the sixth inning to chase Dodgers starter Blake Snell and blow the game open after L.A. had gotten out to a 2-0 advantage earlier in the contest.
Now Toronto wants to keep swinging and win its fourth consecutive home game to grab a 2-0 series lead before the teams head west to California.
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Watch the Blue Jays in the World Series on Sportsnet
The Toronto Blue Jays look to take a 2-0 lead as they chase their first World Series title in 32 years against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Watch Game 2 on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
How we got here
The Blue Jays offence really was the story of the first game. A few gems from the Sportsnet Stats department:
• The Jays’ nine runs in the sixth were the most scored by the team in any inning in any game this year. The nine runs scored and 12 batters sent to the plate in the sixth are both Toronto post-season records.
• Toronto’s 50 extra-base hits are the most by any team through 12 contests in MLB post-season history.
By the time Toronto left the sixth inning with an 11-2 lead, the Friday-night party was on.
What’s at stake
Teams that go up 2-0 in the Series win the set basically 80 per cent of the time. If Toronto can take an early stranglehold, the Jays will be in prime position to hang a banner.
Alternatively, the Dodgers — bad as Game 1 was — can still leave Canada with what they came for. You have to believe L.A. was targeting at least one win before getting back to Dodger Stadium for three contests. If the defending champs can scratch out a win in Game 2, they’ll fly home feeling pretty good about things.
Starting pitching matchup: Kevin Gausman vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
After starting Game 1 in both the ALDS and ALCS, Kevin Gausman gets the ball for Game 2 with a chance to pitch his team to a commanding lead in the series. The Jays righty has thrown precisely 5.2 innings in each of his previous three starts in October and tossed a clean inning — and picked up the win — during a seventh-inning relief appearance in Game 7 of the ALCS versus the Seattle Mariners.
Yamamoto, meanwhile, is coming off a complete-game victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS. The 27-year-old from Japan is 2-1 in the post-season with an ERA of 1.83.
Bullpen report
If Game 1 provided anything for Toronto, it was proof of concept that L.A.’s bullpen is vulnerable. The Dodgers may have a vaunted rotation, but once that bullpen gate swings open things get a little hairy. Emmet Sheehan and Anthony Banda were both rocked by the Jays after they entered in the sixth inning, trying to clean up the bases-loaded, nobody-out mess starter Blake Snell left them.
The Toronto pen, meanwhile, turned in five innings in Game 1, and the only runs it surrendered were the two that came from Shoei Ohtani’s homer off Braydon Fisher in the seventh. And, with the huge lead it built, the Jays didn’t have to use closer Jeff Hoffman, who has now been resting for five days since pitching on Monday versus Seattle.
Key lineup decision
With Snell, a lefty, on the bump for Game 1, the Jays turned to right-handed hitter Davis Schnieder to play left field. Now that Toronto is facing a righty in Yamamoto, left-handed hitter Nathan Lukes will surely return to the outfield.
Meanwhile, after playing second base for the first time in his career, there’s a chance Bo Bichette could be on the move in his second post-season contest after returning to the lineup in Game 1. Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling suggested Bichette could hop over to DH, which would get George Springer in the outfield. Ernie Clement could then play second, while Barger could slide into third.
Storyline to watch
So much was made about the Dodgers rotation coming into this series, but the Jays were able to knock Snell — who hadn’t surrendered a run in his previous two starts — out of the game with nobody out in the sixth. If Toronto can once again touch up an L.A. starter, it’s going to feel like the Jays have punctured L.A.’s super power and are hammering the Dodgers’ one real weakness.
