The lights of Los Angeles shimmer off the Pacific Ocean, a city where baseball nowadays feels more like a production than a pastime. Up in Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers play beneath the glow of a city that never met a spotlight it didn’t love.
Shohei Ohtani — the best in the world, a unicorn in cleats — headlines a roster overflowing with star power. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts hold the lineup steady, while Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto anchor a rotation that can blow hitters away with any pitch in their arsenal, and the numbers prove just that.
The Dodgers were one of the only teams in baseball to place top 10 in nearly every advanced metric. It’s Hollywood’s team — rich in payroll, richer in expectation.
Far to the north, across borders and time zones, hope hums through Rogers Centre in the sound of a jeer. The Blue Jays haven’t touched glory since 1993, but belief has a way of aging well in Toronto.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the son of a Hall of Famer who never won a ring, leads a lineup that’s grown up together. Bo Bichette and George Springer provide punch, but the pitching during the regular season — shaky. Now? They lead every team in the postseason to date in strikeouts.
Oh, and the offense as a whole? They lead the league in xBA — Expected Batting Average — and on-base percentage.
In essence, this team reeks of “Moneyball” vibes.
Now, under October lights, the game stretches from palm trees to pines. The Dodgers — baseball’s juggernauts — face the Blue Jays, the believers from the North. One team built by stars. The other built by faith.
Let’s break down the final two, shall we?
Meet the three-seed out of the National League — the LA Dodgers
After winning the NL West unconvincingly as an offseason heavy favorite at +250 — 29% chance league-wide — with the next best team at +800 — 11% chance league-wide — it was unknown if the Dodgers would continue their past postseason dominance. Well, they clearly did just that — they won the National League and looked like the one-seed.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have emerged as a nearly unstoppable force in the 2025 MLB postseason, boasting a remarkable 11-2 record, including a near-perfect 4-1 on the road. Their dominance is anchored by an elite pitching rotation featuring Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani.
Offensively, the Dodgers outscored their opponent 18-9 in the Wild Card round, decisively defeating the Cincinnati Reds in two games. Their resilience is further demonstrated by their ability to win both home and away games, including back-to-back victories against the No. 2-seeded Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.
Meet the one-seed out of the American League — the Toronto Blue Jays.
Similar to how I had described the one-seed from the National League side, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Blue Jays have embraced the “Moneyball” approach. Simply stated, they are a group of undervalued players who can contribute to team success via advanced metrics.
For example, have you ever heard of Ernie Clement? In the series against the Yankees, these were his stats — a .429 batting average, 1.034 OPS and 8 RBIs over 49 at-bats.
The iconic line general manager Billy Beane says in Moneyball is, “The problem we’re trying to solve is that there are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then there’s fifty feet of crap and then there’s us. It’s an unfair game. And now we’ve been gutted.”
That quote defines this Blue Jays team — to an extent.
Sure, you can make the claim that the Blue Jays do have money, and I won’t argue that. In fact, their payroll is one of the highest in the MLB. Yet, they spend wisely. This offseason, Guerrero Jr. got $500 million over 14 years. That is the Jays’ money spent, simply on one player. The rest of the roster is built upon emphasizing data-driven decision-making to build a competitive roster. Their analytics team has focused on metrics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage to identify the unknown and turn them into winning and contributing ballplayers.
With the Dodgers winning an electric 18 inning battle and taking a commanding 2-1 series lead, the Blue Jays will stay in the city of glitz and glamour, hoping to steal one game from the Dodgers to bring the series back to Toronto for Game Six.
It’s fortune versus faith — maple syrup versus movie stars, the quiet grind of the North against the glitter of the West. Under the World Series lights, it’s not just baseball on display — it’s two nations, two styles and one shot at rewriting October’s script.
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