Blue Jays-Dodgers World Series Game One: The Jays Make A Loud Return To The World Series

When the Blue Jays' World Series roster was announced on Friday morning ahead of Game 1, we saw Bo Bichette added to the squad as was expected (at Joey Loperfido’s expense). The unexpected move was Ty France’s presence as an extra fielder, with Yariel Rodríguez being dropped for one less pitcher. The next surprise of the day came when the starting lineups were announced. Bichette was in the lineup, but starting at second base. With a lefty, Blake Snell, getting the start for the Dodgers, the Jays also started Davis Schneider (in LF, seeing his first action since ALCS game 2) and Myles Straw (in RF, making his first start since game 2 of the ALDS). With lots of storylines heading into the game, let’s look at some of the key players and plays that emerged.

Addison Barger: 2 for 2, HR, 4 RBI
Not only was Barger not in the starting lineup, but Davis Schneider revealed in a post-game interview that he spent the night before in the SkyDome hotel on Schneider’s pull-out couch. Barger was brought in to pinch hit for Schneider in the sixth inning after the Jays got into the Dodgers' bullpen. Despite Los Angeles making another pitching change to make Barger face a lefty in Anthony Banda, Barger put the exclamation point on the inning, hitting the first-ever pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history and extending the Jays' lead to 9-2. Barger’s 8th inning single was also the hardest hit ball of the game with an exit velocity of 110.8MPH. Not bad for a guy who spent the night on a couch.

Trey Yesavage: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
What a year for Yesavage. With this start, he has now made more major league playoff starts than regular season ones. He is the youngest pitcher to start a World Series game in the last 77 years and the first rookie since Justin Verlander. Yesavage didn’t have his best stuff, but he started the game by striking out Shohei Ohtani and, after loading the bases in the second inning, got Ohtani to ground out to end the inning. Of the 80 pitches he threw, he only went to the splitter 10 times. Maybe he just wasn’t feeling it, maybe they were trying to defy the Dodgers’ expectations, either way, it’ll be something to keep an eye on in Yesavage’s next start (if necessary) 

Bo Bichette: 1 for 3 with a BB
Bichette had a single in his first at-bat and then walked to lead off the sixth inning, where he was lifted for pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa. It was his play in the field that was most noteworthy. He fielded a grounder cleanly in the first inning to get his feet wet at the position he hadn’t played since a sole appearance at Triple A in 2019. In the third inning, he had to range across the base heading towards left field to snag a Teoscar Hernández grounder, and with a smooth, quick turn-and-throw, hit Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a perfect strike at first to record the out.

Daulton Varsho: 1 for 3, HR
Varsho was responsible for the biggest WPA swing (+20.9%) of the game with his fourth-inning home run to tie the game. It was the first homer surrendered by Snell since June 2024, the first World Series home run for the Jays in 32 years, and the farthest hit ball of the game (432 ft). He also took an HBP with Snell’s 100th (and last) pitch to load the bases in the sixth inning and set the stage for Toronto scoring runs with the next three batters.

Alejandro Kirk: 3 for 3, HR
The first catcher since Gary Carter to have three hits, including a homer, in a World Series game. Kirk worked every at-bat he had and turned in a vintage performance that was overshadowed by Varsho and Barger’s earlier home runs. With such an offensive output, the other multi-hit guys (George Springer, Guerrero, Ernie Clement) all had to take a bit of a backseat, but, as with all the best Blue Jays performances this postseason, it was an all-hands-on-deck team effort, continuing the trend from the regular season.

6th inning: 6 hits, 9 runs, 2 walks, 2 homers, and a HBP. +37.3% WPA
Just a few notes on that historic sixth inning. The 12 batters to the plate and nine runs scored are both franchise records for a single World Series inning. The nine runs are also the most in a World Series inning since the Detroit Tigers scored 10 in 1968. The Dodgers spread 44 pitches across three different pitchers to get out of the inning. The Blue Jays put balls in play on 10 at-bats for a total of 1,871 ft of batted ball - that’s over half a kilometer!

One win down and three to go if the Jays are going to be crowned Champions. They will send Kevin Gausman to the hill tomorrow, facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Toronto bats will look to pick up right where they left off.