Toronto Blue Jays made history on Monday by punching his ticket to his first World Series appearance at 32 years old.
Whether you want to learn more about baseball, have a World Series watch party, or just want to talk about the Jays making a historic playoff run, here are some basics you should know.
Why is the tournament called the World Series?
Have you ever wondered why they call it the “World Series” when the Toronto Blue Jays are the only non-American team currently competing in Major League Baseball?
The first World Series was played in 1903 between the champions of the well-established National League and the upstart American League. The Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League faced the Boston Americans of the AL, known today as the Boston Red Sox.
At the time, the best-of-three series was not called the World Series, but the “World Championship Games.” Over time, the name was shortened and became known as the World Series.
With the exception of 1903 and between 1919 and 1921, the World Series was played as a seven-game series.
How does the postseason bracket work?
Each of the two leagues, divided into East, Central and West, has six teams qualifying for the playoffs.
This includes three division winners and three wild card teams. The top four teams in each division meet in the American League Division Series (ALDS) and the National League Division Series (NLDS).
This is followed by the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and the National League Championship Series (NLCS), which are best-of-seven matches between the top two teams in each league.
The winners of the ALCS and NLCS meet in the World Series.
After posting a 94–68 win-loss record during the regular season—fourth best in all of MLB in 2025—the Jays qualified bye, meaning they did not have to play in the wild card series and could advance directly to the ALDS.
There they eventually faced the 27-time World Series winners, the New York Yankees.
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The Jays completed a best-of-five ALDS series against the Yankees in four games, winning 3–1 to advance to the ALCS.
This set up a showdown with the West Coast's arch-enemies, the Seattle Mariners, who had just pulled off a hard-fought 3–2 series win over the Detroit Tigers.
The Sailors are also a team. this gets the support of many Canadians in the West due to its proximity to Vancouver, British Columbia and the Canadian border, as well as the fact that the team consists of Canadians.
The ALCS was not without drama; In the first two games, it looked like Jay fans were about to see their dream end. The Mariners won 3–1 in the first game and won 10–3 in the second game, both games played at the Rogers Center in Toronto. It didn't look very good.
The Jays kept their hopes alive by winning two straight games on the road, but with the Mariners' win in Game 5, Seattle was just one win away from its first World Series appearance.
The Jays needed to win both remaining games as the series returned to Toronto. The Jays won Game 6, making Game 7 a winner-take-all matchup.
The final game went Seattle's way until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Jays' George Springer, under pressure in the game-clinching game, hit a three-run home run that has already earned its place in Canadian sports history.
The famous “Springer Dinger” gave the Jays the lead, securing the team a spot in the 2025 World Series against the formidable Los Angeles Dodgers, the NLCS champions.
This is only the third time in franchise history that the Jays have reached the World Series.
The team last won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993.
The closest they came to that goal was in their last ALCS appearance in 2016, when they lost to Cleveland in five games, and in 2015, when they lost to Kansas City in six games.
Who do they encounter and when?
Game 1 of the 2025 World Series begins Friday at 8:00 pm ET at Rogers Center, with Game 2 at the same venue on Saturday.
Games three and four will see the Jays travel to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on October 27 and 28.
If necessary, the teams will play Game 5 in Los Angeles (October 29), and Games 6 and 7 in Toronto on October 31 and November 1.
How good are the Dodgers?
The Dodgers are the defending champions and are looking to win back-to-back titles.
While the Dodgers don't have many World Series appearances (that title belongs to the New York Yankees with 41), they have the second most World Series appearances with 23. They also had the fifth-best win-loss record in MLB this year, one loss behind the Blue Jays.
The Dodgers are considered the favorites on betting sites and the team is projected to win their ninth World Series title.
However, the Jays will open the series with home field advantage because they had a better record in the regular season. And who doesn't like losers?
Who are the star players?
Shohei Ohtani made headlines in 2023 when he signed a US$700 million contract with the Dodgers. And the star player has certainly left his mark.
Ohtani won National League MVP last year when he became the first player in MLB history to hit more than 50 home runs and steal more than 50 bases. And the Japanese sensation is also in red-hot form this year.
When the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers—the best team overall in the 2025 regular season—in the NLCS, Ohtani hit three home runs in Game 4 and even left the park with one.
If the Blue Jays want to beat the odds and win their third title, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will have to be at his best in the World Series. The Montreal native forward was awarded the ALCS MVP trophy on Monday night.
Guerrero Jr. played a critical role in the Blue Jays' efforts to force the Mariners into Game 7, hitting six home runs in the postseason and delivering one of the Blue Jays' best playoff performances of all time.
