The Dodgers’ pitching staff looked like a buzz saw all postseason, until Toronto broke the machinery.
The Blue Jays’ offense did what others could not this October, getting to a Dodgers starter and continuing on with a power display like few others in the history of the Fall Classic as a nine-run inning propelled them to an 11-4 win in Game 1 of the World Series.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Blue Jays show blueprint against Dodgers’ rotation
(Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)
They don’t whiff or strike out, and for those reasons, the Blue Jays’ offense drew some comparisons to a Brewers lineup that was overmatched and overpowered by the Dodgers’ rotation in the National League Championship Series.
But Friday night’s power display made one thing abundantly clear: These aren’t the Brewers.
While the Blue Jays entered the series with fewer strikeouts this postseason than the Yankees, Tigers and Cubs — despite playing a full round more than each of those teams — they’ve also hit more home runs than any team in October.
They added three more to their tally on Friday, starting with a game-tying two-run blast from Daulton Varsho. It was Toronto’s first home run in a World Series since Joe Carter’s iconic blast in 1993, and it was the first home run Dodgers starter Blake Snell had allowed to a left-hander all season.
The Blue Jays bats did what others couldn’t against Snell, who entered the night with a 0.86 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 21 innings this postseason. On Friday, Snell allowed more baserunners in the first inning in Toronto than he did in eight innings against the Brewers his last time out.
His fastball command wasn’t there the way it had been, so the Blue Jays hitters patiently waited to attack his changeup. After holding the Phillies to one hit in six scoreless innings and the Brewers to one hit in eight scoreless innings, the Blue Jays tagged him for five runs on eight hits and three walks in five-plus innings. Three of the runs charged to Snell came home after his departure.
Getting the starter out early is typically the idea for teams, but now more than ever it’s essential, considering the drop-off after the elite Dodgers starters leave the game.
2. Jays’ nine-run inning underscores Dodgers’ bullpen concerns
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The Dodgers allowed four runs total in four games against the Brewers.
They surrendered nine runs in the sixth inning alone in Game 1 against the Blue Jays.
It was the third-most runs scored in a single World Series ever and the most since Detroit scored 10 in an inning in 1968.
And it demonstrated what can happen when a Dodgers starter leaves the game. The Dodgers’ bullpen is their Achilles’ heel — perhaps their only one — but it’s especially a concern now with Alex Vesia off the World Series roster as he deals with a personal family emergency. The Dodgers’ bullpen entered the World Series with a 4.88 ERA this postseason, and that’s despite Roki Sasaki’s sparkling 1.13 ERA in seven appearances.
In the sixth, the Blue Jays started the inning with a walk, a single and a hit by pitch to knock Snell out of the game. Manager Dave Roberts tabbed Emmet Sheehan, a starter being used in relief this October, to try to extinguish the threat. Instead, the Blue Jays followed with a single, a walk and another single before Sheehan got a groundout.
Roberts then turned to Anthony Banda, who was greeted by the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history from Addison Barger, a hit that put the game away and left an exclamation mark on the Blue Jays’ Game 1 win.
Addison Barger CRUSHES A GRAND SLAM to put Blue Jays up 9-2 over Dodgers in Game 1 of World Series
3. Missed chances come back to bite Dodgers
It seemed ominous when the Blue Jays loaded the bases against Snell in the first inning and got nothing out of it other than raising his pitch count, but that turned out to matter later. The next inning was similarly inauspicious for Toronto, as Ernie Clement ran into the final out of the inning trying to go from first to third on an infield single from George Springer.
But it was the Dodgers who would come to regret the opportunities they squandered early with a chance to break the game open.
Their best came in the second.
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
After scoring a run on 22-year-old Trey Yesavage, the youngest player in this year’s Fall Classic and the second-youngest pitcher ever to start a Game 1 of a World Series, they had a chance to pour it on as four of the first five batters reached to load the bases with one out. Instead, Yesavage buckled down. Andy Pages struck out on what would have been ball four below the zone, and an inning-ending groundout from Shohei Ohtani limited the Dodgers to just the one run. Yesavage didn’t have his vaunted splitter working, but he found a way to limit damage nonetheless.
An inning later, the first three Dodgers batters reached off Yesavage, but Freddie Freeman got caught between second and third and was thrown out on an RBI single from Will Smith. The Dodgers only got the one run in the inning.
And Yesavage, despite needing 71 pitches to get through three innings and letting seven of the first 15 Dodgers batters reach, managed to hold his experienced opponent to just the two runs over four innings.
4. Ohtani gets on the board, but Toronto lineup shines
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani smashes two-run home run vs. Blue Jays in World Series
After going hitless in his first three at-bats, Ohtani lifted off in the seventh inning for a two-run blast. It was his fourth home run in his last two playoff games.
In any game in the NLCS, Ohtani’s late blast would have been more than enough support for the Dodgers’ pitching staff.
Against the Blue Jays, however, it was far too little, too late.
Instead, it was the depth of Toronto’s lineup that was on display. Varsho had the game-tying homer, Barger had the game-breaking homer, and Alejandro Kirk also went deep in the Blue Jays’ sixth-inning fusillade. Five different batters in the Toronto lineup finished the night with multiple hits.
By night’s end, a chant of “We don’t need you” filled the Rogers Centre in Ohtani’s final at-bat.
4 ½. Can the Blue Jays do it again?
History is on Toronto’s side. The winner of the first game of the World Series has gone on to win the Fall Classic 64.2% of the time, including 23 of the last 27 World Series.
The thing about facing the Dodgers, though…the task rarely gets easier the following game.
The Dodgers rotation entered the World Series with a 7-1 record and a 1.40 ERA this postseason. Prior to Game 1, their starters had allowed a combined two runs over their last five starts.
In Game 2, it will be Kevin Gausman against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw a complete game against the Brewers his last time out.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
