BBefore the 2025 World Series opener on Friday night, 32 years and one day have passed since the greatest day in history. Toronto Blue Jays history and the last time the franchise hosted a World Series game.
October 23, 1993 outfielder Joe Carter. hit the second home run in history win the World Series title on a pitch thrown to Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton. On October 24, 2025, the Blue Jays' first home run in a World Series game since Carter was hit by outfielder Dalton Varsho, whose father, Gary, named his son after his former Phillies teammate… Darren Dalton. Two innings later, outfielder Addison Barger qualify for the first Grand Slam tournament in World Series history, capped a nine-run sixth inning that became the highest-scoring World Series inning since 1968.
Quick Guide
World Series 2025
Show
Schedule
Best of seven series. All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4).
Fri 24 Oct Game 1: Toronto Blue Jays 11, Los Angeles Dodgers 4
Sat 25 Oct Game 2: Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Toronto Blue Jays 1
Mon, October 27 Game 3: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 p.m.
Tue 28 Oct Game 4: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 p.m.
Wed, 29 Oct. Game 5: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 8:00 p.m.*
Fri 31 Oct Game 6: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 8:00 p.m.*
Sat, November 1 Game 7: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 8:00 p.m.*
*if necessary
How to watch
• In the US, all games will be broadcast on FOX. If you have a cable/satellite subscription with FOX included, you can also stream through the FOX Sports app.
• In Canada, English broadcasts are available on Sportsnet and French broadcasts are available on RDS and TVA Sports. Games are also broadcast on Sportsnet+ (in English).
• In the UK the official broadcaster is TNT Sports. Requires a subscription to their service or their app.
• In Australia, the local copyright holder is ESPN Australia and its associated platforms.
The Blue Jays' sixth-inning surge turned into a blowout 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series. This game was not intended to teach baseball, but it proved that the Blue Jays may be historically underrated compared to enjoys great approval Dodgers.
Despite winning the three-team playoff division and leading all of Major League Baseball in team batting average. And With home field advantage, the 2025 Blue Jays started World Series as huge underdogs to a Dodgers team that entered the series as one of the most overwhelming championship favorites of the last 15 years.
The Dodgers are no longer seen as Goliath, but rather as something inevitable: the defending World Series champions who haven't missed the postseason since 2012 and have highest salary in Major League Baseball. They entered Friday night's game with a 9-1 record in this year's postseason and have allowed just five runs over their last five games. The pitchers who started those games (Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto) will earn more than $100 million in 2025 alone, more than the combined salaries of five major league teams. Those salaries don't include what the team pays three other former MVPs (shortstop Mookie Betts, pitcher Clayton Kershaw and first baseman Freddie Freeman).
During a pregame press conference, Los Angeles president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was asked to comment on the notion that the Dodgers were “ruining baseball” with their aggressive spending. Friedman said he believes it is his responsibility to spend money on fans: The Dodgers welcomed four million fans in 2025 and their average nightly attendance (49,537) exceeds the capacity of any other major league stadium.
“For us, it's all about getting back to our fans and the partnership that we have with them. So everything that comes from that – and obviously I've heard a lot about this – it's just not the focus for us because it's all about how we put ourselves in the best position to win now and also win in the future.”
What the Dodgers couldn't buy themselves on Friday night was reliable bench pitching. Despite signing pitchers to long-term deals worth over $100 million this offseason (two of which are not on the World Series roster), the Dodgers relied on a retooled starting pitcher (Emmett Sheehan) and one of their top 2024 playoff pitchers (Anthony Banda) to try to hold onto a 2-2 record. after starting pitcher Blake Snell (who signed a five-year contract worth $182 million. last November) was ejected in the sixth inning.
Sheehan and Banda quickly realized what made the Blue Jays so dangerous and what could be the key to the team's first championship in more than three decades if Dodgers pitching didn't improve. Sheehan allowed three of the four hitters he faced to reach base. By the time Banda left the game, Toronto had hit two more homers and the Dodgers were losing by nine runs.
Barger's grand slam highlighted the Blue Jays' blitz as the Dodgers pitched to open what had been a tight first five and a half innings. Toronto then scored nine runs on six hits and swung and missed all three pitches in an inning where they sent 12 hitters to the plate. By the end of the game, nine different Blue Jays had scored.
That familiar ruthlessness led to some of the best offensive performances of any team in the 2025 postseason, as they scored 34 runs in four games to defeat the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series and overcame a 2–0 series deficit against the Seattle Mariners to outscore them 33–17 in the next five. games.
Unlike the Dodgers, who finished second in home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage during the regular season, the Blue Jays do not put power at the center of their offense. Toronto entered Game 1 having scored nearly seven runs per game in the postseason and with a team batting average of over .300, more than 50 points higher than the Dodgers. What's even more impressive is that the Blue Jays are scoring fewer than six times per game, something no other playoff team can match. During the regular season, the Blue Jays had the second-most strikeouts of any offense in history. Major League Baseball.
This approach appears designed to frustrate the Dodgers, who have defeated the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers with long games anchored by high strikeout counts. Before Friday night, Dodgers starting pitchers had struck out at least seven hitters in nine of their 10 playoff starts. In the first game, the pitchers did not record an out after the fourth inning.
“We needed to pass the torch to the next guy,” Varsho said after the game. “That was our principle all year and we trusted it.”
It was only the second postseason loss for a Dodgers team that showed plenty of signs of its veteran savvy and discipline even in the blowout loss. Although they struggled to capitalize on the early innings, the Dodgers forced Blue Jays starting pitcher Trey Yesavage out of the game after four innings thanks to long, patient at-bats that stretched out the star rookie and prompted Blue Jays manager John Schneider to replace him in the top of the fifth inning.
“We really tried to stay tough in the strike zone,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But we just couldn't get one or two at-bats to really create a little more distance.”
Even if they are drafted to play David, the Blue Jays are unlikely to be surpassed: They have the fifth-largest payroll in the league, one of the game's biggest stars (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), two former Cy Young winners in Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer, and a much tighter defense than casual Yankees outfit The Dodgers enjoyed last year's World Series.
Even if the Dodgers have more financial power, the sudden transition from a pitchers' duel to a rout on Friday night indicated they were likely in for an exciting and unpredictable series.
“I feel great right now,” Schneider said after the game. “But in 10 minutes tomorrow will be tomorrow.”
