The World Series, affectionately referred to as the Fall Classic, kicks off tomorrow with Game 1 in Toronto as the Blue Jays from the American League host the Los Angeles Dodgers from the National League. The Dodgers remain the odds-on favorite, with their enormous payroll, uber-talented lineup including the historically great Shohei Ohtani, and a starting pitching rotation that has been outstanding in the playoffs and only seems to be getting stronger each round.

And yet, baseball is a funny game where the best and most talented team doesn’t always win. Teams sometimes sneak in, get hot at the right time, and pull off the surprising upset. Should that happen this year with Toronto, it wouldn’t exactly be a David over Goliath feat for the Blue Jays didn’t sneak in, they won their division, and they aren’t like the 2003 Marlins featuring a low payroll but Toronto actually boasts the fifth highest payroll in the sport. Yet, even though they are top 5 in spending they still trail the Dodger’s output by nearly $100 million (and that’s with much of Ohtani’s salary being deferred and therefore not even calculated in the team total – crazy, and a post for another day). 

All that being said, the Dodgers remain the favorite for a reason. If you begin going down the list it’s hard to find a category where Toronto would have the advantage:

Starting Pitching Rotation – advantage Dodgers, with two of those dominant pitchers being Blake Snell (Game 1 starter) and Tyler Glasnow – two former Tampa Bay Ray aces. I both root for their success and somewhat lament it, as I hate seeing my Florida teams (Marlins and Rays) always function as farm systems for the big spending clubs but I digress…

Bullpen – not necessarily a strong suit for either team, but the Dodgers have benefited greatly by Roki Sasaki moving into a closing role in the playoffs and when he’s on (which he mostly has been with rare exception), his stuff is NASTY. Advantage Dodgers.

Offense – advantage Dodgers. What a deep lineup. Just no let up for the opposing pitcher.

Defense – again, advantage Dodgers. That defensive acumen and baseball IQ was on full display several times in the playoffs, especially with the wheel play they ran against the Phillies which garnered great attention. Bo Bichette is supposedly returning for the Blue Jays in the World Series and adding his bat will be nice, but he has been a notoriously sloppy defensive SS this season. Again, another tick in the direction of the Dodgers.

Guys who look like your auto mechanic but rake at the plate – again, advantage Dodgers and my reference is to Max Muncy. Seriously, with his new glasses (and I say this as a fellow, bespectacled man) he looks like the guy who would roll out from underneath your car at Jiffy Lube and recommend you flush your transmission fluid. Or, maybe he looks like the manager of the meat department, white smock and all, at your local grocer. Hard to say, but with that “every-man” look he continues to mash and is the Dodgers all-time leader in postseason home runs. Gotta love it. Advantage Dodgers. 

Coaching – this is the only category where I think Toronto has a distinct advantage and my thinking isn’t based in data just my obnoxious opinion. It’s rooted in my longstanding insistence that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has always looked lost in the dugout and a half-second late in his recognition and understanding of what’s transpiring on the field. He is an ex-player (so always funny for guys like me to criticize but isn’t that the fun of sports fandom and dumb blogs?) and for all I know he’s the nicest guy in the world, he just kinda has that aloof, bewildered gaze, and turns his head rapidly from side to side like a teacher who had a student audibly fart in the classroom and is trying to determine the culprit. The saving grace is that he’s long managed one of the most talented and lucrative franchises and so the money and talent are so great, unless the manager makes egregious errors it doesn’t really matter and that’s probably the case again in this series. But…if the games do require a measure of tactic and strategy and are close, this could be where Toronto’s edge make a difference because I do think their manager, John Schneider is a leader of men and a commander of the dugout. Why do I believe this? Again, no data, just my obnoxious opinion that anyone with a beard that robust yet manicured has to be.

Plus…

Plus….

The Toronto Blue Jays have Donnie Baseball (Don Mattingly) as their bench coach! A Don Mattingly appearing in his first World Series I believe, and that’s hard to fathom given his run on the Yankees as a player. It’s very easy to fathom given his run as the manager of the Marlins. What a sub plot to the series. Schneider with that beard. Mattingly with that aura. That’s serious gravitas in the Toronto dugout. Advantage Blue Jays.

Lastly – I’ll be watching the crowd and the stadium settings. Dodgers Stadium is easily toward the top of the list of most beautiful of baseball settings in Chavez Ravine, the backdrops, etc. And a full, Dodgers Stadium can get loud even with the somewhat annoying pandering to Hollywood celebrities which happens in the first few rows behind home plate. But, there are times where the LA crowd is distracted by its surroundings (hard not to be) or empty seats are present (especially if there is an early start time) whereas the Rogers Centre in Toronto seems to always be electric and raucous and I do think will help Toronto slightly if home field advantage comes into play should the series go long. The domed confines in Toronto along with the Jays being the team of an entire nation (not just a single city) have always made that stadium and crowd one to appreciate, and Toronto fans are known to travel too so, we’ll see.

So, again, advantage Dodgers overall. I’m rooting for a long and competitive series but do expect the trophy to probably stay in the Golden State and not cross the border into Canada. But, in either outcome, I’m definitely hoping the winner gets and accepts an invitation to the White House because not only is that a tradition that never gets old but I would also fully expect the President to be on his humorous A-game with awkward acknowledgements should the Canadian team win or him being elated the American based team won, but that winning team would be from California…not always his favorite…LOL. We are getting ahead of ourselves here, but fun to think about…

Play ball!