Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, postseason edition! We'll keep you up to speed on everything you need to know every weekday throughout the 2025 MLB playoffs. Thanks for being here. And then there were two. The 2025 World Series matchup is set, bringing together the defending champion Dodgers and a Blue Jays club making its first Fall Classic appearance since 1993.
The Dodgers punched their ticket last week, completing their NLCS sweep over the Brewers on Friday. The road was a tad more difficult for the Blue Jays in the ALCS, with Toronto needing to rally from 2-0 and 3-2 series deficits against the Mariners and requiring some Game 7 magic to finally get past Seattle.
Now, we turn our focus to a World Series showdown brimming with intrigue, where threads from recent history collide with the ultimate tension and drama of the Fall Classic.
Here's a look at three of this year's juiciest World Series plotlines, excerpted from our full breakdown of the most compelling angles that will shape Dodgers vs. Blue Jays.
1. Ohtani vs. Toronto
Dec. 8, 2023, was one of the most disappointing days in recent Blue Jays history. Rumors swirled that Shohei Ohtani was on his way to Toronto to sign with the Blue Jays. Fans were glued to online flight trackers in anticipation. But as it turns out, Ohtani was never coming. One day later, he announced on Instagram that he was signing with the Dodgers.
For Toronto, facing the Dodgers in the World Series is another reminder of what might have been -- not just with Ohtani, but also Roki Sasaki, the Japanese phenom who saw the Blue Jays as a finalist before joining Ohtani in Los Angeles this past offseason. At the same time, it's also a chance for the Blue Jays to move past their string of high-profile free-agent misses once and for all.
2. Springer vs. the Dodgers
Although their titles in 2020 and '24 have dulled the sting considerably, the Dodgers' 2017 World Series loss to the Astros is still a sore subject in Los Angeles. Even years later, the sign-stealing scandal that engulfed Houston in the wake of that series has left lingering resentment among Dodgers fans toward those with a link to that team. That includes George Springer, who was named MVP of the 2017 World Series after hitting five home runs against L.A.
Now with the Blue Jays, Springer is set to face the Dodgers in the Fall Classic once again. He played a key role in Toronto's ALCS win over the Mariners, belting a lead-flipping three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 7.
3. Bo returns?
The Blue Jays' run to the Fall Classic is even more impressive considering their first two series wins came without one of their best players, shortstop Bo Bichette.
Bichette has been sidelined since early September with a left knee sprain, but after Toronto's dramatic ALCS Game 7 win, he said he's ready to return for the World Series. Having a healthy Bichette back in the lineup could potentially shift the balance of power in Toronto's favor. -- Thomas Harrigan |
MAKING (AND MIMICKING) HISTORY |
Roki Sasaki has had Dodger Stadium rocking on the postseason stage with his dominant performances as L.A.'s playoff closer.
Well, the stage is only getting bigger.
And Dodger Stadium is about to get even louder.
Sasaki has been dominating all postseason long in some of the highest-pressure situations imaginable. In these playoffs, the 23-year-old phenom has pitched in some of the highest-leverage situations of any pitcher this century.
He even has a dramatic bullpen entrance befitting an elite closer. When Sasaki emerges from the Dodgers' bullpen to "Bailalo Rocky," he electrifies the entire stadium.
Now he gets to do it in the World Series. -- David Adler |
There's long been an idea across baseball that catchers -- the field generals who make things go on both sides of the ball -- make the best future MLB managers. The Angels are banking on that being true.
Los Angeles is set to hire Kurt Suzuki as its manager for the 2026 season, per our Mark Feinsand. Suzuki, 42, spent 16 seasons as a big league backstop, including with the Angels for his final two in 2021-22. He was an All-Star with the Twins in 2014, and he won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019. Since his retirement, Suzuki has been a special assistant to Angels general manager Perry Minasian for the past three years.
Suzuki would join Dan Wilson (Mariners), A.J. Hinch (Tigers), Kevin Cash (Rays) and Stephen Vogt (Guardians) as current MLB managers who spent their playing days behind the dish. Of those four, two have won Manager of the Year Awards (Vogt in 2024, and Cash in 2020 and '21), one has raised a World Series trophy (Hinch in 2017) and the other just took Seattle farther than the franchise has ever gone in his first full season at the helm, losing in Game 7 of the ALCS.
With seven more managerial vacancies across the game, the catcher-to-manager pipeline may see more action this offseason.
-- Betelhem Ashame |
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