The Los Angeles Dodgers are used to having a target on their back, but that will be especially true when they take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 World Series.
After winning a championship in 2024, adding more talent in the offseason, and fulfilling expectations by getting back to baseball’s biggest stage, the Dodgers are the hunted. As talented as the Blue Jays are, many will still see it as a classic David vs. Goliath matchup as Toronto makes its first World Series appearance in 32 years.
The Blue Jays clinched their first AL pennant with a Game 7 victory over the Seattle Mariners to end a long, winding ALCS. The Dodgers, on the other hand, made much quicker work of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.
Back in the Fall Classic for the fifth time in the last nine seasons, the Dodgers return this time as reigning champions seeking to become the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back titles.
Here’s a look at how the Blue Jays and Dodgers stack up, including betting odds and our series prediction.
World Series 2025 odds
All odds courtesy of FanDuel.
- Winner: Dodgers -220, Blue Jays +184
As expected, the Dodgers opened as favorites to win the World Series over the Blue Jays. Toronto won one more game during the regular season and has home-field advantage, but the odds reflect the idea that L.A. is better positioned now than it was in the regular season after dominating the first three rounds of the postseason.
The Dodgers are more heavily favored than they were a year ago, when they opened as a slight favorite to defeat the New York Yankees.
MORE WORLD SERIES NEWS:
World Series 2025 pick, prediction
The mighty Dodgers are favored entering the World Series, but it was the Blue Jays who had the better record during the regular season.
That doesn’t mean all is equal in October.
While the Blue Jays will try to reap the benefits of home-field advantage, they are facing a team that has yet to lose on the road in the postseason. Toronto would rather start and end the series at Rogers Centre than at Dodger Stadium, without a doubt, but whether home-field advantage will have a significant impact is uncertain.
One reason why? The Dodgers’ dominant starting pitching is no fluke. L.A.’s rotation enjoyed a historic month of September once every piece was healthy, and the talent matches the production. The Dodgers still found bizarre ways to lose down the stretch in part because their bullpen just wasn’t living up to expectations, but the return of Roki Sasaki along with the remarkable length from their starters has turned the weak links of the bullpen into near non-factors.
Let’s set the expectations now: the Dodgers pitching probably will not be as dominant as it was in the NLCS, even if it is very good. The Brewers had a historically bad offensive series, and that kind of pace from L.A. starters likely isn’t sustainable regardless of how prepared the Blue Jays are to face them.
The Dodgers also don’t need their starters to be that dominant to win four games.
It will be critical for the Blue Jays to make Dodgers starters work and get to the bullpen as early as possible, but that’s easier said than done. On one hand, the Blue Jays are a low-strikeout team. Putting the ball in play is good, and that should help counteract the swing-and-miss success the Dodgers have had in October.
On the other hand, Toronto only sat near the middle of the pack in walks this season and might not be the type of offense best suited to drive up pitch counts. Contact hitting is better than not hitting at all, but soft contact could allow Dodgers starters to stay efficient.
The Blue Jays have flashed power in the postseason, but they often win by stringing together hits. It’s going to be much more difficult to string together hits against aces like Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Toronto has to have at least somewhat of a power surge to out-hit the Dodgers.
Ohtani’s NLCS Game 4 explosion aside, the Dodgers’ offense has been lighter on power than expected this postseason. Their starting pitching has covered up for it, but the Blue Jays can flip the script if they are able to generate power in ways Dodgers opponents have not been able to do this October. The Blue Jays don’t line up quite as well as the Mariners would have from a pitching standpoint, but they do have three veteran starters who are unlikely to be intimidated by the big stage and one young arm in Trey Yesavage who has proven the moment isn’t too big for him.
All of these positive scenarios for the Blue Jays are possible, but they are not probable. Ultimately, it’s the Dodgers who have a historically good rotation, a new multi-inning relief weapon in Roki Sasaki and an offense that, while imperfect of late, has more than enough talent from 1-through-9 to get the job done. Their championship experience is only an added bonus.
The Blue Jays have mastered the art of never quitting, but they will need to strike quickly and find a way to get to the Dodgers starters in a way no other team has to this point.
OUR PICK: Dodgers in 5
