The Toronto Blue Jays opened the 2025 World Series with a resounding 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at a raucous Rogers Centre on Friday night. It was Toronto's first World Series victory since 1993, ending a 32-year drought.
The game initially favored Los Angeles, with starter Blake Snell holding the Blue Jays in check the first three innings, allowing just four hits while the Dodgers built a 2-0 lead on early RBIs from Enrique Hernandez and Will Smith. Toronto retaliated in the fourth inning when catcher Alejandro Kirk singled to right field, which set up Daulton Varsho’s 423-foot two-run homer to center, tying the game.
The game turned on a dime in a nine-run bottom of the sixth inning. After facing 24 batters, Snell, who had allowed only two earned runs in 21 postseason innings before Friday, lost his touch and gave up eight hits, five earned runs, three walks, and a hit-by-pitch before manager Dave Roberts pulled him with the bases loaded and no outs.
Emmet Sheehan replaced him but allowed three more runs, and Anthony Banda was summoned with the bases loaded again. That’s when Addison Barger belted the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, putting the Blue Jays ahead 9-2.
Kirk then hit a two-run homer to center field, pushing the lead to 11-2, and set a record as the first Mexican-born player to homer in the Fall Classic (h/t Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). He also became the first catcher since Gary Carter in 1986 to record at least three hits and a home run in a World Series game.
Toronto’s rookie starter, Trey Yesavage, drafted last year, contributed four innings with two earned runs and five strikeouts in his first World Series start. Bo Bichette, returning from a left knee sprain, added a walk and a hit in two at-bats while also making a notable defensive play at second base. Utility player Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez contributed crucial hits during the sixth-inning surge.
Los Angeles made a brief push in the seventh inning when Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer, cutting the deficit to 11-4, but it was nothing more than consolation against the Blue Jays’ dominant offense.
The two teams will meet again for Game 2 on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, with Kevin Gausman set to start against the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Historically, teams that win Game 1 of the World Series have gone on to win the title in 23 of the last 27 instances.
