Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes (38) prepares to bat in the first inning during a baseball game against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Friday, July 11, 2025. Lukes starred at Center High School in Antelope, played three seasons at Sacramento State, and is going to the World Series vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Friday.
Sacramento Bee file
The upcoming World Series will have special meaning in Antelope, at Center High School and Sacramento State when it begins on Friday. It will give friends, family members, classmates and teammates of Nathan Lukes a chance to watch him on baseball’s biggest stage against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Lukes, 31, will be representing the capital region as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, who clinched their first World Series berth in 32 years with a Game 7 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night. The left-handed hitting outfielder had nine hits in 27 at-bats during the American League Championship Series.
Lukes will be just the second former Sacramento State Hornet to play in the World Series joining his former college teammate Rhys Hoskins, who also went to high school in the area at Jesuit. Hoskins played in the 2022 World Series for the Philadelphia Phillies, who were defeated by the Houston Astros.
“He’s a baseball player and he understands how to win and I think the more guys you have like that, the better off the team is going to be,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Lukes when Toronto visited the Athletics in West Sacramento in July. “There’s not really much he can’t do, and he’s coming into his own as a big leaguer.”
Lukes is Sacramento State’s sixth-highest drafted player since its program joined Division I in 1990, according to the university. He holds the school record for hits with 244, is second in runs scored at 137 and tied for ninth with 37 doubles. He was named All-Western Athletic Conference first team as a sophomore and junior.
Former Sacramento State outfielder Nathan Lukes breaks on the crack of the bat in the first inning of a game against the Fresno Bulldogs, April 22, 2015 at Raley Field in West Sacramento. Lukes, now with the Toronto Blue Jays, will face the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Friday in the 2025 World Series. Jose Luis Villegas jvillegas@sacbee.com
Lukes during his final season at Center High School won MVP of the Pioneer Valley League after hitting .450 with 24 runs scored, 26 RBIs and four home runs. As a pitcher he went 5-0 with a 0.62 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 45 innings.
He was initially a seventh-round pick by the Cleveland Indians in 2015 and spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues before making his Major League debut with the Blue Jays on March 30, 2023 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
He got the most playing time of his career this season while appearing in 135 games and hitting .255/.323/.407 with 12 home runs and 65 RBIs in a platoon role while starting games at all three outfield positions.
In 11 playoff games, Lukes has 13 hits, including three doubles, and seven RBIs. He had hits in six straight games to end the ALCS.
It’s likely that Lukes will come off the bench in Game 1 if the Dodgers start lefty Blake Snell and then be in the starting lineup against three other L.A. starters — Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani, who are all right-handed.
Game 1 is scheduled for 5 p.m. Pacific Friday in Toronto. The World Series is a 2-3-2 format meaning Games 3 through 5 will be played in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium from Monday through Wednesday of next week before returning to Toronto for Games 6 and 7, if necessary.
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Chris Biderman
The Sacramento Bee
Chris Biderman covered the 49ers from 2013 to 2021 and started with The Sacramento Bee in August 2018. He previously spent time with the Associated Press and USA Today Sports Media Group. A Santa Rosa native, he graduated with a degree in journalism from the Ohio State University.
