Although our staff was skeptical of the Dodgers at the start of the postseason, it’s not surprising to see the vast majority of the group select the team that many had anointed the World Series favorite before the offseason even ended. The Blue Jays have been impressive, but the Dodgers have dominated and look like the superteam they began assembling last winter. Below is a selection of our experts’ thoughts on why they think their pick to win the World Series will be raising the trophy soon:
Jayson Stark (LA): I picked the Phillies to beat them. Then I picked the Brewers to beat them. I think the Blue Jays are a tough match-up for them, but I’m done picking against the Dodgers. They’re a team on a mission with a rotation on a mission. Dodgers in 6.
Jen McCaffrey (TOR): The Dodgers are the favorite, but the Jays have something intangible that’s propelled them all season. Coupled with a dangerous offense and solid veteran pitching they could make this an interesting series.
Andrew Baggarly (LA): I’m thinking of 2012 when the Giants were heavy underdogs to Detroit and they had Miguel Cabrera, who’d become the first Triple Crown winner in a generation. The Giants contained Cabrera and swept the series (besting a young Max Scherzer along the way). So the Blue Jays (and Scherzer) have a template. Good luck following it against Shohei Ohtani, whose impact and accomplishments make a Triple Crown look cute by comparison.
Tyler Kepner (TOR): You can’t beat the Blue Jays by trying to strike them out. These hitters make contact and do damage with it. That will counteract the clear pitching edge the Dodgers had in the NL playoffs.
Katie Woo (LA): The Dodgers put on a starting pitching clinic in the NLCS. They have addressed their bullpen concerns by using another rotation arm in Roki Sasaki as their de facto closer. They have an embarrassment of pitching riches. They also have Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman atop their lineup, but who cares what the offense looks like when your rotation consists of four aces.
Steve Berman (TOR): If the Dodgers jump out to an early 2-0 series lead, it’s curtains. But the Blue Jays’ home-field advantage might be enough to stop the Dodgers’ early onslaught. An entire country will be behind the Blue Jays, who can hold their own offensively and defend better than the Dodgers. They’ll have to crack the code on L.A.’s starting pitching, though.
Levi Weaver (LA): Because the Toronto Blue Jays are merely a baseball team. A very good one — better, at this point, than any other baseball team in the American League (and probably most of the National League ones, too!). But they are, unless I’m mistaken, still a baseball team.
The best example I can give you is that this is like the No. 1 seller on Etsy going up against Amazon.com. No disrespect to those custom-made stickers; they’re honestly so impressive. But (motions at the entire western horizon) they have enough money to blot out the sun, and they spent it to buy all the oxygen in your whole country.
Melissa Lockard (TOR): The Dodgers breezed through an easy NLCS on the strength of their starting pitching and their power, while the Blue Jays had to claw their way through a crazy seven-game series. This feels like a mismatch on paper, but so did the Oakland A’s vs. the Dodgers in 1988 and we all know how that turned out. The Blue Jays even have two stars with banged up knees to choose from for the big hero moment.
Chad Jennings (LA): It’s not just that the Dodgers have better pitching — the Mariners had better pitching, too — but the Dodgers’ rotation feels far less likely to break on this stage. Their rotation is too good, and concerns about the Dodgers’ bullpen could also apply to the Blue Jays. That said, the Blue Jays have been proving me wrong all year.
Johnny Flores Jr. (TOR): The bottom of the Blue Jays’ order will provide the top of the order enough cracks at whatever Dodgers starter is out there.
Sam Blum (LA): Well, I’ve picked against the Dodgers every series so far, and I’ve been wrong. They built this team for October, and they’re not 9-1 this postseason by accident. They also have the benefit of a fully rested pitching staff.
Stephen Nesbitt (LA): Pitching and defense wins championships. And if the Dodgers are light in those areas, they also have the greatest player in baseball history leading off ahead of two future Hall of Famers.
Charlotte Varnes (LA): The Dodgers’ pitching is having a historic postseason, and they’ve already dominated some of the league’s top offenses this October. What’s another one? Plus, the Blue Jays’ rotation lacks the lefties necessary to shut down the Dodgers’ stars.
Cody Stavenhagen (LA): This series might be tighter and more tense than some are expecting. But the Dodgers’ depth of talent will ultimately win out in six or seven games. Roki Sasaki emerging as a capable closer is no small thing for a bullpen that has needed help throughout the year. L.A. should have the starting pitching edge, and Toronto’s bullpen might not have the horses to get through the heart of the Dodgers’ order in a long series.
Andy McCullough (LA): Folks, have you heard about this guy, Shohei Ohtani?
