Game 1 of the World Series is set for Friday night at 8 p.m. ET in Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The Dodgers are looking to become the first repeat champions since 2000 while the Blue Jays are seeking their first World Series title since 1993, when Joe Carter walked off the series in this same building. Hopefully we’re in for some fireworks on the field this time around.
Let’s grab some action, with the odds from DraftKings.
Under 3.5 runs in first five innings (+100)
Both offenses are excellent, but there’s damn good pitching on the mound, too. Great pitching beats great hitting, at least the first time or two through the batting order. Dodgers starter Blake Snell has an 0.86 ERA this postseason and threw five scoreless innings against the Blue Jays earlier this season. He did the same when he faced them in 2024 too, and only allowed one run in five innings in 2023 against the Jays.
Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage takes the mound to face the Dodgers. He’s been very good in two of his three playoff starts. I’m betting on the unfamiliarity — the Dodgers have never faced him — getting Yesavage through the lineup twice without getting touched up in a big way. Of course, he could give up three runs in five innings and we might still be safe with this wager.
Recency bias? Perhaps. Riding the hot hand? Absolutely. Springer in seven ALCS games had eight hits, seven RBI and seven runs, or an average of over three hits plus runs plus RBI per game. We only need two here. Springer has a nose for huge moments in the playoffs. He homered to lead off the Blue Jays’ half of the first inning in the ALCS. Maybe he does the same in the World Series? We’d cash our tickets right away.
Trey Yesavage under 5.5 strikeouts (-141)
As alluded to above, I don’t think Yesavage gets lit up by the Dodgers or anything, but they should fare better against his splitter than the Yankees did in the ALDS. Yesavage struck out 11 that game with the split-finger fastball as his go-to weapon. The Dodgers are actually one of the best teams in baseball against splitters though. They are fifth in batting average and third in slugging percentage against the pitch.
My guess here is Yesavage lasts about five innings and strikes out a touch less than one per inning — or maybe exactly five innings pitched with five strikeouts. That cashes our ticket here.
Blake Snell to record a win (-103)
My expectation is the Dodgers take a lead against Yesavage and win a close game. I also think Snell gets deep into the game. So far in the playoffs, he’s gone seven, six and eight innings, respectively, in his three starts. He hasn’t started a game since Oct. 13, so he’s well, well, well rested. He can get through six or seven innings here with a lead and then it’ll be a test for the Dodgers’ bullpen to hold said lead in the seventh and eighth innings before handing the ball to Roki Sasaki. I say the Dodgers hold it and Snell grabs the W here at some good plus money.
