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Blue Jays’ relentless offence suffocates Blake Snell, Dodgers’ bullpen in Game 1 blowout
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Photo credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
Oct 25, 2025, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 25, 2025, 07:00 EDT
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It may have taken 32 years for the World Series to return to Toronto, but it was certainly worth the wait.
Before this series even began, most were already throwing around the David-versus-Goliath comparisons — the Blue Jays being David in this situation and the Dodgers being Goliath. Well, as it turns out, the ultimate survivor from that fight came out swinging in round one.
While Los Angeles’ offence struck first versus rookie Trey Yesavage, scratching across the first two runs in Game 1, Toronto’s offence bided its time against Blake Snell — carrying a sub-one ERA with 28 strikeouts across three post-season starts into Friday’s Game 1 — before exploding with a nine-run sixth inning. That was the most runs scored in a single inning in World Series history since the Detroit Tigers rallied for 10 runs in Game 6 of the 1968 Fall Classic.
If anyone still had doubts about the viability of the Blue Jays’ throwback style of offence remaining effective deep into October, those have surely disappeared by now. This lineup delivered haymaker after haymaker in that sixth-inning explosion, knocking Snell out of the game and then tagging Emmet Sheehan and Anthony Banda — two important weapons for an injury-riddled Dodgers’ bullpen — for six combined runs.
“Those at-bats in that inning started with Bo’s walk, then a knock, and it kind of just kept on going. Those were some pretty terrific at-bats from everyone up and down the order,” manager John Schneider said following his club’s 11-4 victory in Game 1.
It felt like a train came rolling through Rogers Centre in that sixth. Six consecutive baserunners reached safely to start the inning — all via either a walk, single or hit-by-pitch. That’s how this offence likes to operate. It’s death by a thousand cuts.
They don’t live and die with home runs like other teams do. But if they run into one, like Addison Barger did with the first-ever pinch-hit grand slam — the club’s second in these playoffs, one shy of matching the most for a single post-season — in World Series history, they’ll take it. But those kinds of big swings are like “icing on the cake” for this club, as Schneider described pre-game.
Even after Barger’s historic bomb, which came during a left-on-left matchup versus Banda, the Blue Jays kept throwing upper cuts. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was largely a non-factor in Game 1, illustrating the offence’s remarkable depth, ignited another rally by reaching safely with a single.
That set the table for Alejandro Kirk’s two-run shot, the main attraction of his impressive 3-for-3 performance that saw him on base in all four plate appearances. He’s as “steady” as they come, which is how showings like this can sneak up on you.
But it wasn’t just the home run that stood out for Kirk. Toronto’s backstop also played a key role leading up to Daulton Varsho’s game-tying homer off Snell — the first dinger he’s allowed to a left-handed batter since June 2, 2024 — as he sent the eighth pitch of the at-bat into right field for his first of three hits.
Kirk is the Blue Jays’ silent assassin. You likely won’t see him coming until it’s too late, mainly because he doesn’t say much — on or off the field. But his teammates notice him even when he’d likely prefer they didn’t. They know exactly how valuable he’s been for this team — defensively, first and foremost, as one of the sport’s most elite defenders, but at the plate, too.
“Kirky has been awesome all year. He’s been one of those guys that’s been a staple for us,” Varsho said. “He does a really good job of being able to help our pitching staff be able to get through a lineup. I thought he did a great job of calling the game. And then obviously his bat is the reason why he’s in the big leagues, and he’s really good.”
As a whole, the Blue Jays’ offence perfectly executed their game plan against Snell. They made him throw 29 pitches in the first inning — a season-high (regular season or post-season) in 2025, and his second-most since ’23. Though they left the bases loaded, that opening frame accelerated the clock for when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would need to turn to his bullpen.
And that’s exactly the formula that Toronto needs to replicate to win this series. They must continue to be patient in the box, as they were versus Snell, swinging and missing just 21 per cent of the time across five-plus innings — his third-lowest whiff rate of ’25, including regular season and playoffs.
Placing a heavy toll on Los Angeles’ bullpen is the key here. That is their Achilles’ heel, especially considering they’re without Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia.
Opening this series with a commanding win was huge for the Blue Jays. Not only does it provide them with early momentum in this series, but there’s also a historical benefit as well — the winner of Game 1 has gone on to win the World Series 64.2 per cent of the time, including 18 of the previous 22 Fall Classics.
It’s taken a long time for this moment to arrive, so nobody’s taking a 1-0 series lead for granted. They’re already thinking about what it’ll take to “get ready for tomorrow,” when they’ll face another one of the Dodgers’ tough starters, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Still, Friday’s blowout victory proved Toronto shouldn’t be cast aside as the underdog story here. After all, this franchise is now just three wins away from its first World Series title since capturing back-to-back in 1992 and ’93.
And with Cito Gaston, the former skipper of those championship teams, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Game 1, the feeling of recapturing those glory days has never felt closer than now.

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