World Series Recap Games One and Two

Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69) @ Toronto Blue Jays (94-68)

The Fall Classic has begun in Canada, with the Blue Jays hosting the Dodgers for the first two games of the World Series. With George Springer’s epic homer in Game Seven against Seattle, Toronto captured its first AL Pennant in 32 years. Vlad Guerrero, Jr. took home ALCS MVP honors, while Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement racked up a ton of hits throughout the series. There is no let up in manager John Schneider’s lineup. And they should see an additional boost, as star infielder Bo Bichette returns to the team after missing thprevious two rounds with an injury. 

The Dodgers look to defend their World Series crown as they rolled through the NLCS against Milwaukee, thanks in large part to their outstanding starting pitching. Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani combined for 28.2 innings, 35 strike outs, just nine hits, six walks, and two runs allowed across four games. The task will be much greater against this deep Toronto offense, and if the starters aren’t as effective, Dave Roberts will be forced to turn to a much maligned bullpen (which will be without their best lefty, Alex Vesia, due to an unfortunate family emergency.) Shohei Ohtani has appeared to break out of his postseason slump with a 3 homer day in game four (not to mention six shutout innings and ten strikeouts on the mound!). The rest of the offense has done enough to get by, but they’ll likely need more from the likes of Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy, and the “Brothers Hernández”.

In Game One, the youngster Trey Yesavage will take on Blake Snell. Yesavage is making just his seventh career start (and 4th of the postseason), and he’s the second youngest to ever get a game one start (Ralph Branca for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947!). Blake Snell has been absolutely dominant, but he relies on hitters to chase outside the zone, which these Blue Jays avoid better than anyone.

For Game Two, expect a lot of splitters as Kevin Gausman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto face off. Gausman has been the Blue Jays best pitcher in these playoffs so far, but it will be tough to match the Japanese star. With the first complete game in the playoffs since 2017, Yamamoto looks to have the first complete game in the World Series in a decade, and he would the first with consecutive complete games since 2004. 

Tune in for what should be an excellent series!

Toronto Radio SN590 - Ben Shulman and Chris Leroux

Los Angeles Radio AM570 - Stephen Nelson and Rick Monday

Audio clips from MLB.tv

As always, thank you to Baseball Reference and SABR for statistics, box scores, background information, and much, much more.

Catch you next time,

P.C.O.