The first two games of the 2025 World Series are in the books, and what a ride it's been already. Game 1 brought loads of fireworks, as the Toronto Blue Jays proved on a national stage what fans have known for months: This is maybe the most complete and relentless lineup in baseball, one capable of wearing down even the best pitching staffs. In Game 2, though, the Los Angeles Dodgers struck back, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto pulled some escape acts early and then flipped it into cruise control in a complete-game win.
Now the series shifts to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Monday night, and after two radically different outcomes, it can be tough to know how to make sense of the rest of this series. Who has the edge? Which stars will step up? While two games isn't a ton of evidence to go off of, here are three overreactions that might not be overreactions after all as the rest of the Fall Classic unfolds.
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Overreaction No. 1: The Dodgers have already taken the Blue Jays' best punch
I know, I know, this feels like an unfair thing to say about a series that's deadlocked at a game a piece. Toronto beautifully exploited the Dodgers' glaring weakness in Game 1, and Game 2 was deadlocked until the top of the seventh inning — and may have played out much differently had the Blue Jays cashed in on some early chances against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. This certainly hasn't felt like a lopsided matchup so far.
And yet ... it does sort of feel like the dam is about to break, doesn't it? For starters, just take a look at how the pitching matchups shake out over the next three games:
- Game 3: Max Scherzer vs. Tyler Glasnow
- Game 4: Shane Bieber vs. Shohei Ohtani
- Game 5: Trey Yesavage vs. Blake Snell
That's heavily tilted toward the Dodgers, especially in Games 3 and 4; Scherzer battled gamely in the ALCS, but he got knocked around hard for the most part this season, while Bieber has struggled in October. And on the other side, L.A. will throw two more aces with electric stuff and the ability to pitch deep into games.
Winning more than one of the next three at Dodger Stadium feels like a tall order, and that would send the series back to Toronto with the home team in a 3-2 hole. I'm not counting out the Jays by any stretch, but there's also a chance we look back on Game 1 as the high-water mark.
Overreaction No. 2: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the most terrifying hitter in this series
Guerrero Jr. has yet to really leave his mark on this series, with zero extra-base hits over the first two games. And yet, anyone who actually watched those games will tell you just how locked in Vladdy is at the plate right now. He's never off-balance, never uncomfortable in the box no matter who he's facing. It's at the point where I have no idea where you can pitch him to get him out; he hardly ever expands the zone, and he's equally capable staying on offspeed stuff, getting to fastballs, going the other way or clearing his hips and unloading on the inner half.
Meanwhile, the star-studded heart of the Dodgers order seems a bit out of sorts. A garbage-time homer from Shohei Ohtani late in Game 1 notwithstanding, L.A. has gotten next to nothing from Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez. It's been the bottom of the lineup, the Will Smiths and Max Muncys and (somehow, still) Kiké Hernándezs, that have kept the offense afloat.
Sure, in the aggregate, Ohtani is the best hitter in this series; his track record speaks for itself, and is second to nobody not named Aaron Judge. But in the moment, right now, there is not a hitter I'd be more afraid to face than Guerrero Jr. And Toronto is going to need him to keep it up if they want to pull off the upset.
Overreaction No. 3: Roki Sasaki is the only reliever Dave Roberts can call on for the rest of the series
Obviously, odds are there will come a time where Roberts has to use a pitcher other than Sasaki or one of his starters. And hey: I'm a believer long-term in Emmet Sheehan, and Blake Treinen has earned some benefit of the doubt at this point in his career. Handing the ball from Glasnow, Ohtani, Snell and Yamamoto straight to Sasaki simply isn't a realistic strategy; the Blue Jays are too tenacious at the plate.
And yet ... what else is there right now? We saw what happened when a Dodgers starter wasn't able to finish the sixth inning: Toronto scored a historic nine runs in one frame and turned a tight game into a laugher. Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia are both off the roster, Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol and Michael Kopech aren't options either, and the options behind them should fill everyone in Los Angeles with agita.
Seriously, other than Sasaki, who are you turning to in a high-leverage spot? Sheehan? Justin Wrobleski? Jack Dreyer? Anthony Banda? (gulp) Clayton Kershaw? At this point, Roberts need to do everything in his power to make sure none of those guys face the heart of the Jays order, or face anyone at all with runners in scoring position, in a reasonably close game. Maybe that means letting Sasaki go two or three innings, and it certainly means giving his starters maximum leeway. Anything else feels like asking to get burned.