Dodgers and Blue Jays discuss what makes Shohei Ohtani a special player
USA TODAY Sports caught up with members of the Dodgers and Blue Jays ahead of the World Series to discuss the unique talents of Shoehi Ohtani .
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TORONTO — In Game 1 of the World Series, Bo Bichette will bat cleanup and play second base for the Toronto Blue Jays, while right-hander Trey Yesavage will get the start on the mound.
And this will be their first time on a big league field together.
Such is the partially ad hoc nature of this Blue Jays playoff run, as they won the American League East three weeks after Bichette suffered a sprained left knee ligament, then won seven of 11 postseason games to advance to their first World Series since 1993.
Along the way, they worked Yesavage – who started the season at their lowest full-season minor league affiliate – into the rotation and he’s proven a playoff ace, beating the Yankees in the AL Division Series and Mariners in the AL Championship Series to earn the Game 1 call.
Their opponents, the Los Angeles Dodgers? It looks a lot more stable: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman are atop the lineup, while lefty Blake Snell will aim to continue his historic run of dominance in these playoffs.
Snell has won all three postseason starts, giving up just two earned runs in 21 innings pitched (0.86 ERA) in beating the Reds, Phillies and Brewers. He’ll take a 14-inning scoreless streak into his start.
The Dodgers are aiming to become the first club to repeat as champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees, while the Blue Jays seek their first championship since consecutive titles in 1992-93.
“This has been, obviously, on my mind the entire run, just trying to get as healthy as I could be and as ready as I could be for this,” Bichette said before Game 1. “I thought at one point it might be the ALCS, but once that wasn’t an opportunity, I turned my attention to hopefully having an opportunity to be here for this.
“I don’t know if relief is the word, but I’m definitely super blessed and grateful to have this opportunity.”
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TORONTO – Shohei Ohtani’s uneven postseason at the plate has continued in Game 1 of the World Series – but the Dodgers managed to push across the first run of the Fall Classic. Ohtani grounded out to leave the bases loaded in the top of the second – one inning after his leadoff strikeout – as the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead on the Blue Jays heading to the bottom of the second.
Once again, Dodgers playoff legend Kiké Hernández was the ringleader, poking a one-out RBI single off rookie Trey Yesavage to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Yesavage gave up three hits and a walk in the inning, and ran a full count to No. 9 hitter Andy Pages with the bases loaded.
But Pages flailed at a slider for the second out, and Ohtani grounded to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who outsprinted Ohtani to the bag to end the inning. .
TORONTO — Trey Yesavage and Blake Snell crafted narratives of dominance in their respective leagues’ postseason. In the first inning of World Series Game 1, only the 22-year-old kid maintained that theme. .
Yesavage, the 22-year-old rookie making just his seventh major league start, set down Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in order in his World Series debut.
Snell, meanwhile, got a rude awakening about these Blue Jays: They put the ball in play.
Snell needed 29 pitches to escape a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first inning, retiring Daulton Varsho on a fly to center to end the inning.
Yet it felt like a victory for the Blue Jays. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk drew full-count walks and Bo Bichette, in his first at-bat in seven weeks, swung away on a 3-0 pitch and nubbed a single to right field, to the delight of a roaring Rogers Centre crowd that feted their homegrown star with chants of “Let’s Go Bo!”
And there’s still eight more innings of madness ahead tonight.
Dodgers lineup for Game 1
- Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
- Mookie Betts (R) SS
- Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
- Will Smith (R) C
- Teoscar Hernández (R) RF
- Max Muncy (L) 3B
- Enrique Hernández (R) LF
- Tommy Edman (S) 2B
- Andy Pages (R) CF
Blue Jays lineup for Game 1
- George Springer (R) DH
- Davis Schneider (R) LF
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
- Bo Bichette (R) 2B
- Alejandro Kirk (R) C
- Daulton Varsho (L) CF
- Ernie Clement (R) 3B
- Myles Straw (R) RF
- Andrés Giménez (L) SS
Blue Jays infielder Bo Bichette is on Toronto’s World Series roster and is batting cleanup, playing second base in the Game 1 lineup. Bichette, who is a free agent after the season, has not played since Sept. 6 due to a knee injury.
“This has been, obviously, on my mind the entire run, just trying to get as healthy as I could be and as ready as I could be for this,” Bichette said before Game 1. “I thought at one point it might be the ALCS, but once that wasn’t an opportunity, I turned my attention to hopefully having an opportunity to be here for this.
“I don’t know if relief is the word, but I’m definitely super blessed and grateful to have this opportunity.”
“They’ve invested in their team, into that stadium, the visiting clubhouse, they’ve put a lot into the Toronto Blue Jays,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman told reporters before the World Series.
“So to just see the city come together, and get to experience so much jubilation that they had going to the World Series for the first time in 30-plus years, you know it’s an exciting time.
“And being from Canada, it’s pretty cool.”
TORONTO — It is October, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the World Series, and Kiké Hernández is striking baseballs with authority once again, a phenomenon that defies all logic and statistical trends amassed over a significant sample size.
“These are the games I live for,” Hernández said the day before Game 1. “In life, you get put on the planet to do certain things.
“And for me, I feel like I was put on this planet to love my family, make people laugh and play October baseball.”
— Gabe Lacques
TORONTO — George Springer’s go-ahead, eighth-inning three-run homer vaulted the Blue Jays into their first World Series since 1993, a span in which Schneider was in their employ as a poor-hitting minor league catcher, a coach and manager buried deep in their organization until his methodical rise resulted in him taking the managerial reins in the middle of the 2022 season.
This was a guy who managed franchise cornerstones Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero many moons ago – not in Toronto, but in rookie league Dunedin, in 2017, when they were teenagers and both players and manager were four levels away from the big city.
This was the organizational grinder sticking around to finally sit in the hottest seat in the organization – and surviving in it long enough to see Game 1, 2025 World Series. — Gabe Lacques
- Bob Nightengale: Dodgers in 6
- Gabe Lacques: Dodgers in 6
- Jesse Yomtov: Dodgers in 5
World Series national anthem singer tonight
Voices of Fire is performing the U.S. and Canadian national anthems before the opening game of the World Series.
World Series first pitch for Game 1: Cito Gaston
The ceremonial first pitch for Game 1 is being thrown by Cito Gaston, the Blue Jays’ manager for their 1992 and 1993 World Series titles.
- Joe Davis, play-by-play
- John Smoltz, color commentary
- Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci, dugout reporters
Pitchers (12): LHP Anthony Banda, LHP Jack Dreyer, RHP Tyler Glasnow, RHP Edgardo Henriquez, LHP Clayton Kershaw, RHP Will Klein, RHP Roki Sasaki, RHP Emmet Sheehan, LHP Blake Snell, RHP Blake Treinen, LHP Justin Wrobleski, RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Position, two-way players (14): SS Mookie Betts, OF Alex Call, OF Justin Dean, INF/OF Tommy Edman, 1B Freddie Freeman, INF/OF Kiké Hernández, OF Teoscar Hernández, INF/OF Hyeseong Kim, 3B Max Muncy, DH/P Shohei Ohtani, OF Andy Pages, INF Miguel Rojas, C Ben Rortvedt, C Will Smith.
Pitchers (12): RHP Chris Bassitt, RHP Shane Bieber, RHP Seranthony Dominguez, RHP Braydon Fisher, LHP Mason Fluharty, RHP Kevin Gausman, RHP Jeff Hoffman, LHP Eric Lauer, LHP Brendon Little, RHP Max Scherzer, RHP Louis Varland, RHP Trey Yesavage.
Position players (14): C Tyler Heineman, C Alejandro Kirk, INF/OF Addison Barger, INF Bo Bichette, INF Ernie Clement, INF Ty France, INF Andrés Giménez, INF Vladimir Guerrero Jr., INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa, OF Nathan Lukes, OF Davis Schneider, OF George Springer, OF Myles Straw, OF Daulton Varsho.
Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell takes the mound for the Dodgers in Game 1.
Snell has won all three of his starts in the 2025 postseason, giving up just two earned runs in 21 innings pitched (0.86 ERA) against the Reds, Phillies and Brewers. He takes a 14-inning scoreless streak into his Game 1 start.
“It’s going to be great energy, good baseball, two really good teams,” Snell said. “I just can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Toronto won back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 (vs. Braves) and 1993 (vs. Phillies), the only times in franchise history the club has reached the Fall Classic since coming into existence in 1977.
How many times have the Dodgers won the World Series?
The Dodgers have won eight World Series titles in franchise history – one in Brooklyn and seven in Los Angeles
- 1955 vs. Yankees
- 1959 vs. White Sox
- 1963 vs. Yankees
- 1965 vs. Twins
- 1981 vs. Yankees
- 1988 vs. Athletics
- 2020 vs. Rays
- 2024 vs. Yankees
WASHINGTON ‒ The Ontario, Canada, provincial government will continue airing an ad critical of tariffs on American TV through the weekend ‒ and then pause the commercial ‒ after President Donald Trump halted United States trade negotiations with Canada over his objections to the ad.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in an Oct. 24 statement, said he’s directed his team to keep airing the commercial ‒ which features remarks from the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan ‒ so it will be seen during Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, set for Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25.
Ford said the province of Ontario will pause the ad effective Monday, Oct. 27 “so that trade talks can resume.” He cited a conversation he had with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to come to the decision. — Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
World Series schedule 2025
- Game 1: Friday, Oct. 24 in Toronto – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 25 in Toronto – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- Game 3: Monday, Oct. 27 in Los Angeles – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 28 in Los Angeles – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- *Game 5: Wednesday, Oct. 29 in Los Angeles – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- *Game 6: Friday, Oct. 31 in Toronto – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- *Game 7: Saturday, Nov. 1 in Toronto – 8 p.m. ET, FOX
- 2024: Dodgers
- 2023: Rangers
- 2022: Astros
- 2021: Braves
- 2020: Dodgers
- 2019: Nationals
- 2018: Red Sox
- 2017: Astros
- 2016: Cubs
- 2015: Royals
- 2014: Giants
- 2013: Red Sox
- 2012: Giants
- 2011: Cardinals
- 2010: Giants
The Dodgers defeated the Yankees in five games to win the 2024 World Series.
When did the Dodgers move to LA?
The Dodgers left Brooklyn after the 1957 season, playing their first game in Los Angeles in 1958.
The Giants departed New York for San Francisco at the same time, bringing the historic rivalry to the West Coast.
MLB announced the umpires and full schedule for the crew chosen to call this year’s World Series. Mark Wegner has been designated as crew chief for the first time. It’s his third World Series overall overall during a 25-year career.
Here’s how the umpires will line up for Game 1:
- Home plate: Will Little
- First base: Mark Wegner (crew chief)
- Second base: John Tumpane
- Third base: Alan Porter
- Left field: Adam Hamari
- Right field: Jordan Baker
- Reserve: Adrian Johnson
Watch Dodgers vs Blue Jays LIVE on Fubo
World Series Game 1 begins at 8:00 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre in Toronto, home of the Blue Jays.
