World Series storylines: Can Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani make history? How healthy is Bo Bichette?
There's more than just a ring on the line when the Dodgers and Blue Jays kick off the seven-game series Friday
By
Dayn Perry
•
9 min read
The 2025 World Series is upon us, which means we're anywhere from four to seven games (seven please!) from awarding both belt and title for another Major League Baseball season. That honor will of course go to either the Los Angeles Dodgers, representatives of the National League, or the Toronto Blue Jays, winners of the American League pennant.
It's a compelling matchup, to say the least, and, just like in 2024, it features the Dodgers against the AL East champion. While the Dodgers go in as the heavy favorites, the Blue Jays are more than worthy, as they prevailed in one of MLB's toughest divisions and also had to overcome the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners during their current playoff run. So, yes, while most expect another Dodgers championship, this is baseball, which means no outcome can be truly surprising.
Behind all the batted balls, strikeouts, tense moments on the bases, and, ultimately, hoisting of the trophy will be the storylines underpinning the 2025 World Series. To set all of those scenes, let's have a look at all those subplots that will back up all the action to come in this edition of baseball's signature event. Onward …
1. The Dodgers' quest to repeat
No team has won back-to-back World Series since the 1999-2000 Yankees, which means the Dodgers are a mere four wins from joining this very exclusive list:
| Team | Consecutive World Series won |
|---|---|
1998-2000 New York Yankees | Three |
1992-93 Toronto Blue Jays | Two |
1977-78 New York Yankees | Two |
1975-76 Cincinnati Reds | Two |
1972-74 Oakland Athletics | Three |
1961-62 New York Yankees | Two |
1949-53 New York Yankees | Five |
1936-39 New York Yankees | Four |
1929-30 Philadelphia Athletics | Two |
1927-28 New York Yankees | Two |
1921-22 New York Giants | Two |
1915-16 Boston Red Sox | Two |
1910-11 Philadelphia A's | Two |
1907-08 Chicago Cubs | Two |
As you can also see above, no NL squadron has achieved this feat since the Big Red Machine in 1975-76. If the current Dodger model pulls this off, will it be the most impressive repeat ever? One can make that case because the 2025 Dodgers will be the first team ever to secure a repeat while surviving four rounds of postseason play -- the Wild Card Series win over the Reds, the NLDS triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies, the NLCS sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, and now the World Series clash with the Blue Jays. To boot, the Phillies, Brewers, and now Blue Jays are all certifiable juggernauts, at least insofar as the 2025 campaign is concerned.
2. L.A. and the march to 10 titles
The Dodgers at present have won eight World Series titles in their history (dating back to Brooklyn), and that puts them within tantalizing reach of championship No. 9. Given that the Dodgers' window for contention figures to remain open for some time -- thanks to the aggressiveness of lead operator Andrew Friedman and an ownership group that, miracle of miracles, actually cares about winning -- it will hardly be shocking if championship No. 10 comes along at some point during the current decade. That brings us to this very short list of clubs that have logged double-digit World Series trophies: the Yankees with 27 and the Cardinals with 11. Very soon, the Dodgers may take the next necessary step -- the penultimate step -- toward joining those exclusive ranks. If they win this year, they'll break a tie with the hated San Francisco Giants, who also presently have eight titles. That would pull the Dodgers into a tie with the Red Sox and Athletics, who each have nine.
3. Dave Roberts and three rings
The Dodgers' venerable and decorated skipper is already among the very best in his guild and bound for the Hall of Fame one day. In his 10 seasons as L.A. manager, Roberts has guided them to 10 postseason berths, nine division titles, five 100-win seasons (and perhaps a sixth had the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season been a standard one), and a 65-45 record in playoff games (in other words, Roberts' teams have played at a 96-win pace in playoff games). As well, Roberts' career winning percentage of .621 is the best all-time mark among managers with at least 1,000 games to their credit. Roberts is also 368 games over .500 for his career, which puts him 10th all-time on that list (every manager ahead of him managed at least 16 seasons). Shall we go on? OK. Near at hand is Roberts' chance to win the World Series for the third time. He already has rings from 2020 and 2024, and he's four wins away from adding 2025 to his collection. Specifically, he's close to becoming just the 11th manager ever to win three or more World Series titles.
4. The Dodgers' current postseason dominance
En route to reaching the World Series, the Dodgers swept the Reds 2-0 in the opening round, prevailed 3-1 over the Phillies, and then swept the Brewers. High-level mathematics reveals that's good for a record of 9-1 so far in the 2025 postseason. Obviously, the Dodgers are more worried about winning the World Series before them than dominating it, but what if they do dominate it? A sweep of the Blue Jays would put their 2025 postseason record at 13-1, and that would make history.
Obviously, we had plenty of perfect postseasons back in the old days when all that meant was a World Series sweep. Since layers were added to the playoffs, however, it's become a rarity. In the divisional era, only the 1976 Reds at 7-0 ran the table across multiple postseason series. Since the wild card round was added in 1995, though, no team has gone undefeated in postseason play. The 2005 Chicago White Sox and 1999 Yankees each went 11-1 during their run to the title, and that comes to a wild card-era record postseason winning percentage of .917. If the Dodgers sweep Toronto, their 13-1 playoff record would come to a winning percentage of .919.
5. Shohei Ohtani and ultimate individual glory
The biggest baseball star in the world seems likely to claim the National League MVP award for a second straight year. He's already notched the NLCS MVP award on the strength of his unforgettable 10-strikeout, three-homer performance in Game 4 against the Brewers. Now comes the possibility that he takes World Series MVP laurels, too. If he pulls that off, Ohtani will be truly walking with the October gods. Across MLB history, just five players have won the MVP and the World Series MVP in the same season: Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers in 1963, Frank Robinson of the Orioles in 1966, Reggie Jackson of the A's in 1973, Willie Stargell of the Pirates in 1979, and Mike Schmidt of the Phillies in 1980. Ohtani, though, is aiming for the trifecta: the MVP, and the LCS MVP, and the World Series MVP, all in the same season. Only Stargell in '79 has achieved that elusive feat. Will Ohtani join him?
6. Shohei Ohtani and exclusive World Series home run company
No, we're not done with Mr. Ohtani. It won't be the least bit surprising if he goes deep against the Blue Jays and, if/when he does, Ohtani will become the second Japanese-born player to hit a home run in the World Series. He'll join Hideki Matsui of the Yankees, who homered against the Marlins in 2003 World Series and hit three out versus the Phillies in the 2009 World Series.
But wait: That's not all! Presumably, Ohtani will take the mound against Toronto in this series, almost certainly as a starting pitcher. That raises the distinct possibility that he'll become just the 14th pitcher ever to hit a home run in a World Series game. The list of those moundsmen to power up in the Fall Classic spans from Cleveland's Jim Bagby in 1920 to Joe Blanton of the Phillies in 2008. No pitcher has ever homered multiple times in a World Series, and Ohtani is of course very much capable of that.
7. The Blue Jays and the "three rings" club
The Blue Jays are angling for their third World Series title in franchise history, one to join their back-to-back rings in the early 1990s. That brings us to the matter at hand, which are the franchises that have won at least three World Series championships. Here's the fraternity to which the Blue Jays are pledging:
| Team | World Series titles |
|---|---|
Yankees | 27 |
Cardinals | 11 |
Athletics, Red Sox | 9 |
Dodgers, Giants | 8 |
Pirates, Reds | 5 |
4 | |
Cubs, Orioles, Senators/Twins | 3 |
To the Jays' substantial credit, they've been around since just 1977, while every team on the list above is an old-line franchise that dates back to the early 20th century and in many cases beyond that point. If Toronto is able to beat the Dodgers, they'll join the Guild of Three in historically hasty fashion.
8. George Springer and the postseason home run list
Given the way he was grimacing in obvious discomfort after clawing his way back from an HBP on the knee earlier in the ALCS, it was perhaps fair to assume Springer's normally imposing power capabilities were compromised. Then in the deciding Game 7 against Seattle, he did this in clutch-most fashion:
So, yes, sore knee and all, Springer is still very much capable of tapping into his power reserves. Speaking of which, Springer now has 23 postseason home runs to his credit. All-time, only Manny Ramírez with 29 and Springer's former Astros teammate Jose Altuve with 27 have more. As leaderboards go, that's a fine one to be on. Is it possible Springer will manage to climb higher on this list versus the Dodgers? It so happens that Springer with Houston in 2017 racked up five home runs in the World Series against these same Dodgers. If he repeats that feat, he'll pass Altuve for second place. As such, this one bears monitoring.
9. Max Scherzer's shot at history
Will the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer make a start in the World Series? In the ALCS, he didn't get the call until Game 6, so there's no guarantee. He would, however, make history if he does start against the Dodgers. If Scherzer gets the nod for one of the games against the Dodgers, then he'll become the first pitcher ever to make a World Series start for four different franchises. He's previously done so as a member of the Tigers in 2012, a member of the Nationals in 2019, and a member of the Rangers in 2023. Across a total of four career World Series starts, Scherzer has an ERA of 3.18 with no unearned runs allowed.
10. The Bo Bichette question
The Jays' star shortstop and pending free agent enjoyed an impressive bounce-back regular season, and he put up impressive numbers for a player who mans such a premium defensive position:
However, Bichette has been sidelined since Sept. 6 with a left knee sprain, the result of a collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells. He was ruled out of the ALDS and ALCS, but he's back for the World Series. In Game 1, he'll man second base (a position he has never played in the majors) and hit cleanup. The question, of course, is whether Bichette is truly 100% and whether he'll be less than his usual self at the plate and in the field. Toronto believes he's in fighting shape, and Bichette will no doubt be a critical factor in this series.
"I think if anybody had doubts that I could do my job there, I wouldn't be playing there, so I feel good about where I'm at," Bichette said Friday before Game 1.
And now for a bonus storyline that loops together both teams …
11. Ohtani and Toronto
You'll of course recall that Ohtani two offseasons ago was thought to be close to signing with the Blue Jays. That, however, turned out to be based on inaccurate reporting, and the early December 2023 rumors that had Ohtani on his way to Toronto to ink a free-agent pact were roundly false. Even so, unjustified hard feelings may linger among Jays rooters, and Ohtani might be greeted with a vigorous booing for Game 1 at Rogers Centre.
Now let's get on with it.
