World Series 2025 predictions: will the Dodgers repeat or the Blue Jays strike a blow for Canada? | World Series

Is Shohei Ohtani already the greatest of all time?

He is and it’s hard to imagine that another player will even approach his accomplishments in this lifetime. In Game 4 of this season’s NLCS, he struck out 10 hitters over six shutout innings and hit over a quarter-mile’s worth of home runs. Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux may have summarized it best when said: “He kind of reminds you of Nolan Ryan, and then he reminds you of freaking Barry Bonds.” Gabriel Baumgaertner

Comparing players across eras is a mug’s game … but yes. We’ll never know how Babe Ruth or Cy Young might have fared had they been around today, but it’s unarguable that players are consistently bigger, stronger and fitter than ever before. To be as dominant as Ohtani is now at two such difficult and different disciplines is superhuman. If he was American they’d have started work on a new wing in Cooperstown. Alan Evans

He’s rewriting what the term even means. A two-way superstar who’s led both leagues in WAR, carried two franchises and now headlines a superteam chasing back-to-back titles. Ruth never faced 100mph sliders. Trout never took the mound. Ohtani’s doing both at historic levels in the analytics age. Bryan Armen Graham

In what sense? Well, he’s not the best pitcher and he’s not the best hitter. Ruth didn’t pitch and hit simultaneously on the level that Ohtani is currently doing, so he’s all alone at the top in his very own category. David Lengel

What the Blue Jays need to do to win

Hit! If the Blue Jays want to win the series, they will need to pressure the Dodgers’ starting pitchers in the early innings. That means reliable, powerful production from star hitters George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr as well as pesky, tough at-bats from veterans like Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho. GB

Ohtani may be the best ever, but Guerrero is even hotter right now. He’s hit six home runs and is batting .442/.510/1.440 this postseason. If anyone can knock the Dodgers’ pitching staff off their rhythm, it could be him. AE

They must grind down the Dodgers’ starters. Toronto’s contact-heavy lineup has to extend at-bats, raise pitch counts and force Dave Roberts to lean on his bullpen. Defensively, they can’t give away extra outs. If Vlad Jr stays scorching and Bo Bichette protects him, they’ve got a puncher’s chance. BAG

The Jays have to wear down the healthy LA starters and get to the bullpen that the Dodgers have been able to hide during the playoffs. Toronto must put pressure on the defense and take all chances they can on the basepaths. But on the field, do not take any chances: that means conservative play and taking the outs in exchange for single runs in a bid to avoid the big inning at all costs. DL

What the Dodgers need to do to win

The Dodgers are most dangerous when the bottom of their lineup gets on base and frustrates opposing pitchers with long at-bats. If they receive steady production from reliable postseason contributors like Tommy Edman, Max Muncy and Enrique Hernández, then the Blue Jays will need to score in bunches to keep pace. The Dodgers will also win if their starting pitching keeps performing the way that it has: In 10 starts, the LA starters have a 1.40 ERA and 0.75 WHIP over 64.1 innings pitched. In nine of those 10 starts, the starting pitcher has allowed four hits or fewer. GB

Score three runs a game. Their pitching staff is so strong that even if their batting lineup has an off night, they’ll probably still win. They just held the Brewers, who had the best record in baseball this year, to four runs in four games. One pitcher might have a meltdown, but it’s hard to imagine it happening four times. AE

Keep letting the rotation cook. Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Bobby Miller have been dominant, and Rōki Sasaki as closer solves their one soft spot. If Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman can get the Dodgers early leads, that staff won’t cough them up. Their depth and rest should overpower a tired Toronto staff. BAG

Keep doing what they’re doing. The Dodgers need to put away that smack they were talking recently and realize that their opponents are capable of winning it all. LA have the kind of star power baseball misses so badly, and if they play up to that lofty standard, there’s little the Jays can do to derail back-to-back titles. DL

One bold prediction

After failing to get a hit in the 2024 World Series, Dodgers third baseman Muncy leads the team in home runs and is the best Los Angeles hitter in the series. Muncy is exceptionally dangerous against right-handed pitching, and the Blue Jays only have two lefty arms on their roster. In the NLCS, Muncy became the all-time postseason home run leader for the Dodgers. After the World Series, he will safely hold that record. GB

Aubrey alert. There have been a lot of jokes about this being the Drake v Kendrick Lamar World Series. Drake is clearly leaning into it and will do something characteristically corny like release a freestyle that rhymes “Bo Bichette” with “wet”. Kendrick will ignore him. AE

Sasaki records multiple six-out saves and wins a game in relief, becoming the youngest pitcher ever to clinch a World Series title. His 102mph fastball turns the final innings into a one-man spectacle and erases the Dodgers’ bullpen narrative for good. BAG

At some point during this series, cranky Toronto fans will throw stuff on the field and force Dodgers players to retreat to the dugout. We’ve seen it before and we were on the verge of seeing it again before the umpires ruled the right way on the Game 7 ALCS interference play. They’re a wealthy crowd up in Toronto, but they were edgy even before the trade war. DL

World Series MVP

Let’s mix it up a bit and give it to Blake Snell, who will finally put Game 6 of the 2020 World Series out of his mind. With that said, the award will go to Ohtani if he pitches well and has even a decent series on offense. He won the NLCS MVP despite being the team’s worst hitter before his historic Game 4 performance. GB

Blake Snell. As the Game 1 starter, he’s the most likely of the Dodgers’ aces to start more than once, and two dominant performances might be enough to seal it. He’s given up three runs on 15 hits in his past six games with a 0.68 ERA in that span. I wouldn’t bet against him continuing that form. AE

Shohei Ohtani. He’ll homer in consecutive games in Toronto and deliver a statement start in Game 5. It won’t just be about production – it’ll be aura, the sense of inevitability when he steps in the box. A transcendent player meeting the biggest stage head-on. BAG

The World Series MVP is the veteran Kevin Gausman, who wins two big games and disarms the biggest guns in LA’s lineup. He’s given up just three runs in three postseason starts and threw a blank in Game 7 v Seattle. It’s his splitter that stirs the drink and even the disciplined Dodgers will struggle to lay off it. Count on Kevin coming through and helping Toronto take the trophy up north. Will they have to pay duty? DL

Your World Series winner will be …

Dodgers 4-2 Blue Jays. This will be a closer series than people expect. Expect the Blue Jays to score at least one lopsided victory after knocking out one of the vaunted Dodgers starting pitchers early in the game. The problem for the Blue Jays will be an inconsistent bullpen, not their starting pitching, that will struggle against a patient group of veteran Dodgers hitters. GB

Dodgers 4-1 Blue Jays. It feels predestined that the Dodgers will win. If they have a weakness, it’s their bullpen (a shaky 4.27 ERA in the regular season) – but the return to fitness of Sasaki and his devastating splitter should help them stabilize things if anything starts to go wrong. Meanwhile Toronto need absolutely everything to go right. Maybe they can ride Guerrero and Gausman to one upset, but four wins is an enormous ask. AE

Dodgers 4-3 Blue Jays. Their rotation depth is unmatched, their stars rested and Ohtani’s presence elevates the entire lineup’s confidence. This should be a cakewalk for the Dodgers, but baseball is funny sometimes. Toronto’s offense will make the most of their home-field advantage, but the Dodgers’ combination of starting pitching, discipline and star power will simply prove too much to prevent baseball’s first repeat champion in a quarter-century. BAG

Blue Jays 4-3 Dodgers. Yamamoto, Snell, Ohtani, Glasnow? What are you supposed to do with these guys? They’ve been so good, their beleaguered bullpen only pitched seven innings in their sweep of the Brewers. That’s positively old school by LA. It’s hard to imagine Toronto pulling it off, but now, really try. Imagine Bichette returning to the lineup and picking up where he left while Guerrero and Springer stay white hot. How about Gausman pitching twice at the Rogers Centre where the Jays are so hard to beat? Contact hitters waste pitches and put the ball in play: anything can happen and it does. Suddenly we’re in Game 7 when Addison Barger touches them all in the 10th inning, helping the Jays to their first title since 1993. Not bad, eh? DL