no nerves, only excitement. This is gonna be fun.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ZBOL3M6B0

It's been 32 years and 1 day since the last World Series game in Toronto. (Was anyone else in the house that Saturday night?)

If you haven't heard, Bo Bichette and Ty France have been added to the World Series roster, in place of Joey Loperfido and Ty France. The Dodgers have added RH pitchers Edgardo Hernandez and Will Klein in place of Ben Casparius and Alex Vesla (and I know we all wish the best for Vesla and his family.)

If he gets into a game, this will be the last we see of Clayton Kershaw, the greatest pitcher of his time.

in place of Joey Loperfido and Ty France.

In place of Joey Loperfido and Yariel Rodriguez. Duh.

I was at game 2 in 1993, and will be at game 2 this time as well. I’m hoping for a better result this time around!

Go Jays!

Honestly not a fan of Kershaw. 12-13 with a 4.63 ERA in the playoffs versus 13-8 with a 3.75 ERA for Sherzer.
Kershaw got to the show early with a perennial first place team but didn't exactly amass the rings.

Bo starting would just give us so much more depth.

suddenly we're able to pinch hit freely for all of Barger Gimenez and even Lukes if we want and still have defensive and offensive coverage everywhere.

one thing that i keep noticing is that Heineman is probably actually a solid hitter vLHP. I understand why we never use him as a pinch hitter, but the option is there in a...er....pinch.

I was at game 2 in 1993

Same. I don't recall having to sell any organs to finance the endeavour.

I watched most of those games on the big screen outside the HMV. Good times.

I was at game 6 in 1993. Obviously memorable. I don't really get France on the roster because Jays already have two right hand DH types on roster. Punch hitting for a lefty? I'd rather have Schneider do that and you don't need to use a second player to play defense either.

I was there in '93. Section 520, row 13. 12 years old. Tonight will actually be the first WS game in Toronto that I'm not in attendance for.

Bo starting at 2B

Lineup:

4. 2B Bichette

Lineup is all righties except for CF/SS (Varsho/Gimenez)

Schneider Straw in for Lukes Barger

"Schneider Straw in for Lukes Barger"

As it should be.

High chance we'll see Lukes and/or Barger later in the game.

Still think ned flanders should be moved down to after Varsho and everyone else should move up and thus Vladdy hits 2nd.

I don't think Schneider reads BB or maybe he does and thinks the idea stinks?

Really I just want Vladdy to be up earlier and potentially more often.

Why do you want Vladdy to hit 2nd so badly? He does way better as a 3rd place guy and is comfortable there. He's having one of the beat postseason ever. Don't mess with it. Schneider is an amazing #2 hitter because he sees so many pitches and gets on base a ton.

Key to this game will be laying off Snell's pitches outside the zone. Make him throw strikes and you'll make him throw way more pitches and have a decent chance to get some baserunners. If the Jays are chasing everything, they're in trouble.

"Why do you want Vladdy to hit 2nd so badly?"

Vladdy's a better hitter than Schneider. I like the idea of starting off with your best two hitters. I personally don't believe that someone hits better in one particular spot or that you don't mess with anything because things are going well. I think you should tinker all the time no matter how things are going and that you should force LA pitchers to deal with your best hitters more often and right from the get go.

So far this post-season, the Blue Jays no 2 hitter (mostly Lukes) has had 51 Plate Appearances. The No 3 hitter (Always Guerrero) has had 50 (the extra one came in Game 3 of the ALCS.) It's not that big a deal in the post-season. Just make sure he bats in the first inning.

Now over the six months of the season, you might get 20 extra Plate Appearances moving someone from third to second, and not quite as many people on base. But whether anyone wants to believe it or not, Guerrero hits much better out of the 3 spot, both this year and in the years before this one. Some guys are like that. Some guys aren't. I think you need to manage the players you actually have, not the ones you want them to be.

"Guerrero has long said he prefers batting third to second, giving him an extra batter to gauge the starter" - Shi Davidi, 6/18/25

Certainly a gutsy move to put a guy in a defensive position that he has never played in Game 1 of the WS. Not to mention, a guy who hasn't hit for 2 months in the cleanup spot. Decisions not for the faint of heart.

As I've said before, John Schneider does not manage scared enough.

I'm optimistic that the defensive side of things will be fine. Its hard to imagine that, like Santander, it won't take a handful of games to get up to speed at the plate. That's the part of this that I think is a massive gamble and one that might well backfire. I admire the courage though.

Thumbs up on the lineup. My understanding is that Bo played some 2B in the minors.

IKF is hitting .238/.238/.333 this postseason, so I think starting Bichette was a no-brainer decision. I'm surprised he's playing 2B, though.

My understanding is that Bo played some 2B in the minors.

Not much! 6 games for the Gulf Coast League Jays in rookie ball in 2016; 14 games for Lansing in A ball in 2017; 9 games in AA New Hampshire in 2018; and 1 game for AAA Buffalo in 2018.

Maybe it's like riding a bicycle, no? You never forget?

On average, how many plays does a second baseman have to make on a given night, with a pitcher like Yesavage on the mound? Probably not that many…

I have no issue with starting him, I'd probably think twice about him batting cleanup though. You're inviting intentional walks to Vladdy in leverage situations.

I think I’d be more worried about Bichette clogging the bases than whether his swing can catch up to the heat. If his bat speed and contact ability is close to where it usually is, he’s not a guy the Dodgers will be delighted to see with runners on base.

I worry about the double play threat, which you already had with Kirk batting cleanup anyhow.

I do think baserunning is a concern with Bo. If he was a 20th percentile baserunner before his injury, he’s probably a 1st-10th percentile one now.

Then again, Santander was very slow as well.

I'm happy to see Bo at 2B. It's a gamble, but the Jays will need things to go right to beat the Dodgers. IKF is available to pinch-run and as a defensive sub, as necessary. And, if Bo is too sore for game competition, hopefully they get Loperfido to replace him.

Bo at 2B was the logical outcome of France on the roster. France as a right-handed pinch-hitter make far less sense if Bo is there for that role and it's been clear for a while Springer is too hurt to play the field.

I didn't realize this whole watching, but Schneider did a great job having Seattle hitters hidden from having three plus looks at Jays relievers.

Notwithstanding Varland pitching in six of the seven games, the only hitters who saw him three times were Julio and Suarez. Raleigh, Naylor and Polanco didn't see anyone three times.

"As I've said before, John Schneider does not manage scared enough."

On average, how many plays does a second baseman have to make on a given night, with a pitcher like Yesavage on the mound?

In his three season starts, there were 8 groundouts to ss, 3 to 2b. There was also 2 infield hits handled by 2b, one by the shortstop.

In his three post-season starts, there have been 3 groundouts to 2b, and an infield hit to the shortstop.

Strikeouts and a few fly outs are mostly what you get.

"Guerrero has long said he prefers batting third to second, giving him an extra batter to gauge the starter" - Shi Davidi, 6/18/25"

Okay, maybe it helps him to see one more batter. I can't be the judge of that. I didn't realize he has been vocal to the press on the issue or that he had a rason dor the preference. And I suppose we should take him at his word. (And I know the stats bear that out even though I find them unconvincing as correlative to his lineup position.)

The sacrifice is that he is likely to get one less at bat in the series and I don't think that's insignificant. As we've seen with George Springer -- one at bat can mean a whole lot in a series. And isn't it the managers job to weigh the scale in favor of incremental advantage. This is why for instance you put Straw in the outfield in the 9th when ahead even though it's very highly improbable that his defense will play any role in the outcome. It's a miniscule, incremental advantage and you may as well do it in case of the 1 in a thousand chance it will help in some way.

But I suppose you go with what the superstar wants if that's really true what he said about it.

Never been to a Jays WS game. My wife and I got babysitters for game 5 and 6 in 1993 and we went to downtown Toronto bars to watch. Game 5 sucked. Game 6 was awesome, and high-fiving everybody (including the cops) on Yonge Street is a lifelong memory.
My son scored GA tickets for game 7 - I promise I’ll only cheer for game 7 to happen IF the Dodgers have won 3 games.
OK Jays, you’ve settled the score from 2022 by beating Seattle. Please do me a favour and exorcise the Dodger demons of 1981 and the memories of Rick Monday.

Before the playoffs started I asked:

"Are there better odds on the board than Ernie Clement for World Series MVP at 400:1?"

Do it, Ernie. It would be the perfect cap to this season. I'll settle for Gimenez, who had the same odds, too.

Jays in 5!

I went to a game in the '92 season courtesy of someone at IBM with tickets and their spouse couldn't go, so they took the co-op student. If Carter's HR had carried ~20 more feet (sitting in 100s in the OF), it might have landed in my lap.

Watched a few more games live, but none in the playoffs. Didn't really have anyone to go with.

And now, like Michael, it's a 6 hour drive to LA.. But given what happened to some Giants fans in LA some years back, and the crazy state of the country, I'm not spending thousands, missing work, etc just to watch some futility unfold (Jays are much better home team). I've had enough of watching the Leafs invariably lose to the Sharks - I stopped going ~8-10 years ago.

IF I can watch the game before the 2 hour post-game archive time on mlb.tv (I managed to fool it last time), I'll probably still skip commercials, etc. baseball isn't football bad for "5 minutes of action spread out over 3 hours", but it's much closer to that than to, say, playoff hockey.

Anyway, go Jays.

Anyone else notice the complete lack of Berrios throughout everything? I know his season is over but it feels like something else is going on.

Berrios has been in the dugout, cheering them on. I was actually wondering about Garcia and Sandlin. They don't seem to have been around.

No live WS for me this year, but I've had a lot of tickets in the past: 1985, 1989, 1991. Had to return them all :-(

But in 1992, I got to see the first World Series game in Canada. (Devo's catch, and *that* triple play.)

1993, when the WS started, I was at a conference in Orlando. Watched Game 5 with other Canadians at a sports bar. Did I want to see the Jays win the WS? Well, sort of. Did I want to see them lose? Yes, sort of. I had tickets for Game 6 & 7, Was happy to return my Game 7 tickets.

My 2 WS tickets, 2nd level above the Jays' bullpen, were $70+ each. Looked them up on StubHub: $2600.

Yesavage getting BaBIPed to death this inning. Nothing hit all that hard.

Garcia was around during ALCS introductions, at least. Francis wasn't during the ALCS, but was this round. I'm not sure how indicative that is of anything.

Ernie with a killer baserunning blunder there. Not sure what he was thinking.

Yeah, definitely a little too ambitious. Though to be fair I thought Springer might have been out at first anyway (unless Snell missed the bag).

Nope, Snell definitely missed it.

Yesavage doesn’t exactly have his A (or even B) command but the patience of the Dodger hitters has been really impressive. Aside from Pages none of them are really chasing the high fastball or the low split.

Okay Bo—maybe 2nd base will work!

Bah. He’s definitely not running well though.

That's it for Yesavage I guess. Too many baserunners but unlike last start wasn't able to get double plays to get out of it. Jays still very much in game. Just need to cash some of these baserunners.

Freddie made a base running blunder similar to Ernie.

Varsho! Boom. And that's why Kirk stays on 1st after the corner long single. Who needs speed from 4-5 in lineup?

My stream is skipping through time and back. Did that Varsho hit actually leave the yard?

Rookie pitcher followed up by a rookie pitcher in game 1 of the WS. Crazy times.

Yes, hit the backdrop in CF. 423 ft

Great pitching by Fluharty and Dominguez.

How nice is it to have Bichette back? Excellent game by him.

Great ab by Bo. I'd have pinch run too.

It is so nice to see Bo back. A walk isn't exactly what I expect, but it works. Station to station with Bo and Kirk

Knocked out Snell before he got an out in the fifth. And the bases are loaded. 2025 Blue Jays doing what they do so well.

In the sixth I mean

Isn't it the 6th?

But yes, doing great. I'm not sure I'd have pr with ikf, but surely have to score from bases loaded no outs and pr on 3rd. Let's go!

As much as Buck & Dan like to repeat it, this is the basic strategy outline the Jays are going for. Wear out the starters, get to the pen.

Ernie Clement!

Nathan Lukes!

Great pa, earning the bb through fouling it off - especially ph and missing badly at start of ab.

Andres Gimenez!

Strange move by Schneider. I'd much rather have Davis facing a righty than Barger facing a lefty.

Would love to see at least one more run score this inning.

Dodgers Twitter is having an absolute meltdown. The strident are confused about why this wasn’t a 12-0 no hitter for Snell. The less strident are confused why they were managing like this was a 12-0 no hitter. High comedy.

Happy to be wrong!! This team is just so amazing.

“I'd much rather have Davis facing a righty than Barger facing a lefty”

Are you sure about that? :)

Woooooooooooooooo!

Bam-bam. I think this is the inning to wake up the casual mlb fan that Toronto is for real and in this thing to win.

A lot of lefty on lefty violence tonight.

I'm guessing that's the 1st grand slam in someone's fiest world series AB!

The Blue Jays love playing at home, especially with the huge electricity in the stadium right now.

I think having a few days of rest post-ALCS plus Bo being back on the roster have done the team a lot of good.

How many pinch hit Grand Slams have there even been in World Series history? Can’t be many.

Well, the various commentators were right about one thing. Tonight was a David versus Goliath matchup.

Just not in the way they envisioned.

None.

Double woohoo!

Now JS PLEASE use a long man (Lauer?)!

Nine run innings can’t be too common in World Series history either.

This team is unreal.

Brendon Little redemption inning tonight?

Y'all are not going to believe this.

In Game 7 against Seattle, the stress got to me. I went out on the stoop for a smoke in the bottom of the seventh. So Springer hit his homer on GameDay as far as I was concerned. And there I stayed until it was over.

It's the World Series. The stress increases by a magnitude. I went outside in the bottom of the fourth tonight. Thank you, Daulton. But I came back inside.

I went back outside for this inning.

Am I going to have to do this every time now? I can if I must!

How many pinch hit Grand Slams have there even been in World Series history?

One. Just now.

That is a really cool accomplishment by Barger.

Nice job by Fisher to get Betts and Freeman after the Ohtani home run. Keep getting outs.

I have to admit I’d have preferred Lauer over Bassitt to preserve Bassitt for higher leverage.

I think it's smart of Schneider to save Lauer, as they are going to need lefties for Ohtani and Freeman all series.

I feel good about Bassitt out of the 'pen. Curious to see who pitches the ninth (Bassitt or someone else).

Lauer is warming apparently so shows what I know. Thought it'd make sense not to bring him in with Ohtani up.

Bit of a statement game, that.

Great game. Three more wins!

Just gotta win three of the next six. Simple, right?

Yeah, sure. Heck of a start regardless.

It's really great they won a game when Trey wasn't pitching well and they got through five innings of their bullpen without using Varland.

You and me both, Glevin. But John has the Midas touch.

That Davis Schneider interview was just bonkers-awesome, and Barger sleeping on his couch is going to become the stuff of legend. I hope they ask Addison about it in his interview.

That was a fun game to be at. It was very loud and I spent a lot of it standing. As a result I am tired, but it's a good kind of tired.

Bo's future is at second.
I don't know if he will be able to play tomorrow.

Will Kirk, Varsho and Barger hitting homers will make the Dodgers pitch to other guys?

Will they bring the lefty relievers in key ABs?

I read somewhere that since 1985 there have been 4 WS where one team was coming off a sweep and had a long layoff and the other team was coming off a 7 game series - the team coming off the seven game series won the WS all 4 times - a long layoff may be a thing.

Amazing game to watch from start to finish. The key against the Dodgers is to work the starters so that they have to go to the pen early. Keep doing that all series and the Jays have a shot. Great start. Three more.

Well, that was fun. Watched it on the TV at home with my 20 year old wandering in and out - the tension gets to her. No idea how she'll survive tomorrow at the game. We're in section 512 row 25, not sure the seats. We'll be wearing our custom Jays jersey's with Northey on the back of each (she is #9, I'm #14). She has worn #9 for all her sports every chance she gets. I wear #14 in honour of the first Northey in the majors, Ron, who played extremely well for the Philadelphia Blue Jays in the 40's (aka Phillies) - never found any relationship though...sigh.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I heard that "long layoff" stat also.
Before tonight, the team that had swept its LCS was 2-16 vs. the team that had played a 7-game LCS (0.111 winning pct over 18 games in 4 WS (1988, 2006, 2007, 2012)).
(2-17 now.)
(But I still think the games are more like 50-50 than 10-90.)

Is that the best ballgame i've ever watched? May well be.

Not just beating but whupping the best pitcher in the world atm with a rookie that couldn’t even come close to locating his best pitch? Crazy stuff.

Dodgers haven't lost like that in a long long while, especially with Snell on the mound. They are absolutely rattled now.

And i was very drunk but i absolutely called that Kirk hr.

Cool article on the game at: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46715629/toronto-blue-jays-world-series-win-addison-barger-jeff-passan

The Barger bit was worth noting:

The past week has been hectic for Barger. On Monday night, the Blue Jays ousted the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to clinch the pennant. Barger said the next morning, he flew to meet his wife at the hospital for the birth of their third child. A day later, he flew back to Toronto for the Blue Jays' workout -- but didn't have anywhere to stay.

"They set up a place, but I was like, for a few days, I'm not paying for a hotel room," Barger said. "I know that sounds crazy, but I'm just trying to save a buck."

So after crashing on the couch of Blue Jays outfielder Myles Straw for a couple of days, Barger spent Friday night with teammate Davis Schneider, sleeping on a pullout couch in the living room of the hotel suite that overlooks Rogers Centre from center field. Barger wasn't exactly comfortable -- Schneider said he heard squeaks from the bed as Barger tried to find peace -- but it didn't impede him from unleashing the biggest hit of his young career.

I'm paraphrasing Schulman here, but imagine telling yourself in spring training that the Jays would be in the World Series and they'd have Davis Schneider batting second; Myles Straw in the starting lineup; Bo Bichette at second base; Trey Yesavage would start; Mason Fluharty would come in to neutralize Ohtani and Freeman with the game close and Chris Bassitt would pitch the eight inning.....

I like how Schneider handled Bo's first game back. He's clearly not at 100% but is probably an offensive upgrade on IKF at like 25% of himself.

Just a fantastically executed game. The 6th inning was incredible and a microcosm of the best of the Jays. Bo walks, Kirk singles, Varsho works count and gets hit. Amazing start but next three abs were biggest in game IMO. Clement gets a single. Lukes works (really works) a walk, and Gimenez hits a single. It's now 5-2 with bases loaded and nobody out and top of order coming up. Just a fantastic job by bottom of the order (and Lukes) to work the pitchers and get on base.

This is Bill Plaschke in the LA Times:

“Ouch, Canada.

The World Series wasn’t supposed to start like this. The Dodgers weren’t supposed to begin their inevitable championship march like this.

Even playing in their raucous Rogers Centre north of the border in the opener Friday, the cute little Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to be a far inferior team, eh?

Uhhhh…

For baseball’s burgeoning dynasty, there suddenly looms disaster. For the dominating Dodgers, this is now a World Serious.

The Blue Jays didn’t just win Game 1, they hammered the Dodgers into a maple-leafy pulp, 11-4, battering their ace and bruising their ego and sending a message.“

If the Blue Jays keep playing their game on offence, they can beat the Dodgers... but they still need 3 wins out of the next 6 and have to get lucky with their starting pitching as Trey is the only one who's really looked dominant at times.

Gausman has been a bit lucky and hasn't really shown that shutdown, No. 1 starter pedigree yet.... hopefully he has his sharpest game of the playoffs tonight because LA is going to come out even more motivated and no doubt see this as must-win.

Game 3 will be the must win for the Dodgers if the Jays can win tonight (please, please win as I'm going to be there after my daughter blew a fortune to get us there). I'm hoping for a Jays win tonight, then the Dodgers come guns blazing at home for game 3, Jays recover for game 4 then needing 1 win over 3 games for the title. I am expecting Gausman to be on tonight, Vlad to crank a dinger, and lots of fun overall.

Enjoyed Fluharty's comment in this article about how every game in the regular season counts. His big save vs the Dodgers is why the Jays have home field advantage - the Jays were 1 game better than the Dodgers this year, if he blew that save then we'd be watching games in LA right now (assuming all else the same) and maybe a NYY vs LAD series as the Jays wouldn't have had home field vs the Yanks.

Don't forget that if the Jays had lost one more game they would have finished behind the Yankees and would have had to play the Red Sox in the wild card round.

Somebody wondered if the 9 run inning was a record but the Tigers had a 10 run inning in the 1968 World Series.

Yep, 2 times a 10 run inning has happened, but this is the first 9+ run inning since that Tigers one in '68. The other time was the 1929 Philadelphia A's (those A's have moved a lot haven't they).

I'm hopeful (but not optimistic) we won't be discussing 2026 on November 2, but instead will be discussing the plans for the World Series victory parade.

I'm not convinced Scherzer retires. It would be hard to beat the high of going out with a World Series, but the Giants need pitching and he's reportedly good friends with Vitiello (their new manager).

Whoops. Wrong Thread.