Two Blue Jays in the top 3? Ranking the best players in the 2025 World Series
-
Kiley McDaniel
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the overwhelming favorites to win the 2025 World Series and become the first repeat champion in a quarter century.
That doesn’t mean they’ve cornered all the talent in this year’s Fall Classic.
In fact, the American League champion Toronto Blue Jays feature two of the top three players heading into the series and nearly half of our top 20.
Let’s dig into the stars — ranking the best of the series participants on how good I think they’ll be in this series and predicting who will take home some superlatives by the time the dust settles.
Top 20 players in the World Series
1. Shohei Ohtani, SP/DH, Dodgers
Ohtani put up a combined 9.4 WAR in the regular season and is a huge favorite to win the National League MVP again. Then, he one-upped himself with one of the greatest athletic performances of all time: six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and three home runs in the clinching game of the NL Championship Series.
2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Blue Jays
Guerrero had a big regular season — 3.9 WAR despite the sixth-worst ball-in-play luck in the league — but has been white-hot in the playoffs, leading postseason players in most major offensive categories.
3. George Springer, DH, Blue Jays
Springer led the Jays in WAR in the regular season, has been very good this postseason and his iconic ALCS Game 7 homer will live on.
4. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, SP, Dodgers
All four of the Dodgers’ starting pitchers are on a heater, but Yamamoto was the best of the group in the regular season by a lot and one of the top five pitchers in baseball.
5. Blake Snell, SP, Dodgers
Snell missed the first two-thirds of the season with shoulder inflammation but came back looking as good as ever. He might be on the best run of his career right now, with a 0.86 ERA in three playoff starts and the second-best underlying numbers (xFIP and xERA) in the playoffs among starters, behind Detroit’s Tarik Skubal.
6. Mookie Betts, SS, Dodgers
Betts, a clear future Hall of Famer, is 33 years old and has lost the standout power from his peak years but is still an impact player.
7. Freddie Freeman, 1B, Dodgers
One of the most consistently elite hitters of this era, Freeman just keeps performing — and he has a history of coming up large in the playoffs.
8. Alejandro Kirk, C, Blue Jays
Kirk was quietly the second-best all-around catcher in the league this year behind Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, but isn’t a huge star since his value is largely driven by on-base skills and pitch framing.
9. Max Muncy, 3B, Dodgers
Muncy is surprisingly solid as a baserunner and a defensive third baseman, and he has always been a dangerous hitter.
10. Tyler Glasnow, SP, Dodgers
Glasnow’s walks crept up during the regular season and the playoffs, but he has been missing bats as always and is inducing weak contact during his current hot streak.
11. Will Smith, C, Dodgers
Smith hasn’t been very good offensively in the playoffs but had the third-best WAR amongst catchers in the majors this season, behind only Raleigh and Kirk.
12. Ernie Clement, 2B/3B, Blue Jays
Clement posted a quietly solid 3.2 WAR this season, driven mostly by contact and defense, but has gone to another level in the postseason, hitting .429 with almost no ball-in-play luck, due to his 4% strikeout rate. He’s on a heater, but the Dodgers’ staff is the type to possibly end that streak.
13. Daulton Varsho, CF, Blue Jays
Varsho is above average at basically everything on the baseball field but isn’t truly elite at much. He missed time with shoulder and hamstring issues this year but was on track for a career-best 4-ish WAR season.
14. Kevin Gausman, SP, Blue Jays
Gausman posted the 10th-best pitcher WAR in baseball this season but has one of the lowest fastball velocities of pitchers in that range and has been hit around in the playoffs, though his career playoff performances are close to his regular-season quality.
15. Tommy Edman, 2B, Dodgers
Edman is a good defender at almost any position but had the 12th-unluckiest ball-in-play outcomes this regular season. That luck has turned around in the playoffs.
16. Trey Yesavage, SP, Blue Jays
Like Gausman, Yesavage’s splitter is his best secondary pitch, and he doesn’t have standout fastball velocity or breaking ball quality. That said, Yesavage’s splitter has been confounding hitters in his six career big league appearances, half of which have been in the playoffs.
17. Bo Bichette, SS, Blue Jays
It sounds like Bichette will be able to return to the Jays’ lineup for the World Series, but he has been out the past six weeks with a knee injury and it’s hard to know what he’ll look like in the short term.
18. Addison Barger, RF, Blue Jays
Barger is usable defensively at a number of positions and broke out this year to be an above-average hitter, mostly due to his power.
19. Andy Pages, CF, Dodgers
Pages hasn’t been terrible at the plate this postseason, but he was a standout hitter (.272 average, 24 homers) and defender (plus-7 runs in 117 starts in center field) in the regular season, en route to 4.0 WAR.
20. Teoscar Hernandez, RF, Dodgers
Hernandez hit for power in the regular season (25 homers) but didn’t draw many walks or stand out defensively. This postseason, he has been hitting for even more power on a rate basis, so he sneaks on this list.
Superlatives
Fastest pitch of the World Series will be thrown by: Roki Sasaki
Sasaki narrowly wins this matchup with the hardest-thrown pitch among these teams in the playoffs at 100.8 mph, and he’s fresher than Louis Varland (100.7 mph) and can go more max effort than Ohtani (100.3 mph).
Others in the mix: Ohtani
Best breaking pitch will be: Emmet Sheehan‘s slider
Sheehan’s slider was, per pitch thrown, the best pitch on the Dodgers’ staff this season. It doesn’t have a gaudy spin rate or crazy movement, but he throws it hard and hitters can’t seem to track it.
Others in the mix: Yariel Rodriguez‘s slider, Braydon Fisher‘s slider, Brendon Little‘s curveball, Jack Dreyer‘s slider, Glasnow’s curveball, Shane Bieber‘s curveball
Best changeup/splitter will be: Yesavage’s splitter
Yesavage offers a unique combination of movement profile (his slider moves to his arm side), a very high arm slot, and short extension which brings his release even higher. Hitters haven’t seen something like this before. Then add in a killer splitter (which he barely threw at East Carolina, where he was last season) and hitters don’t know what to do.
Others in the mix: Yamamoto’s splitter, Gausman’s splitter, Snell’s changeup
Most whiffs will be thrown by: Snell
Snell has been red-hot in the postseason (I explain why here) and should get two starts, but there are a number of strong candidates for this.
Others in the mix: Yamamoto, Yesavage, Glasnow
Hardest hit ball in play will be hit by: Guerrero
The odds for this are as close to 50/50 as you can get. Guerrero (120.4) and Ohtani (120.0 mph) were second and third in max exit velo during the regular season behind Cincinnati’s Oneil Cruz (122.9). Ohtani has a slight edge in playoff max EV at 117.7 to Vlad’s 116.0. I’ll lean to Vlad because he has been running hotter at the plate and thus will get a few more chances to smoke one at a gaudy number, but Ohtani will be facing a weaker pitching staff, so this is still a coin flip.
Also in the mix: Ohtani
Highest sprint speed will be recorded by: Clement
The other main candidates are part-time players who might get only some chances to open it up on the bases, but I expect Clement to be on base often in the series.
Others in the mix: Hyeseong Kim, Edman, Myles Straw
The batter who will record the most hits: Guerrero
Clement (second in postseason hits with 18) might be held back a bit by the quality of the Dodgers’ pitchers while Guerrero (first in postseason hits with 19) also makes a ton of contact but gets the margin for error of having huge power, too.
Others in the mix: Clement, Nathan Lukes, Betts, Freeman, Springer
Best defender will be: Kirk
If you consider framing to be a part of defensive value (you definitely should) and also factor in positional difficulty (I think you should), then Kirk is the answer. He’ll be impacting roughly half of the pitches in the series and he was the second-best framer in the league behind San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey this regular season.
Others in the mix: Clement, Edman, Betts
-
Max Olson
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier has been upgraded to probable for the Utes’ game against Colorado, according to the updated Big 12 availability report released Friday night.
The junior quarterback has dealt with a lower leg injury this season, and coach Kyle Whittingham said Dampier “got beat up in this game pretty good” after the Utes’ 24-21 loss to rival BYU last weekend.
Dampier was initially listed as questionable Wednesday but progressed throughout the week and took reps in practice, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
The 5-foot-11, 210-pound junior, a transfer out of New Mexico, has started every game despite the injury and ranks sixth in the Big 12 in total offense with 1,375 passing yards, 442 rushing yards and 18 total touchdowns.
True freshman backup Byrd Ficklin played four snaps against BYU and would be in line to start if Dampier is unavailable Saturday against the Buffaloes (10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Utah wide receiver Tobias Merriweather and defensive tackle Dallas Vakalahi were downgraded from doubtful to out against Colorado. Merriweather ranks second among Utes wideouts with 130 receiving yards on eight receptions this season.
The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers opened the 2025 MLB season in Japan on March 18.
Now, 220 days later, they meet the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.
Will the Dodgers be the first team to repeat as champs since the New York Yankees at the turn of the century? Or will the underdog Blue Jays win their first title since 1993?
It all starts Friday night. We’ll have the action covered right here, from pregame lineups to live analysis during the game to takeaways after the final pitch.
Key links: Mega-preview, predictions | Schedule
Live updates
Gamecast: Follow the action pitch-by-pitch here
-
Jorge Castillo
TORONTO — Bo Bichette, who has not played since spraining his left knee in early September, was added to the Toronto Blue Jays‘ roster for the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bichette, a two-time All-Star at shortstop, will play second base for the first time in his major league career and bat cleanup in Game 1 on Friday night in Toronto, according to the lineup released by the Jays.
“I’ve been able to get a lot of good work in, but honestly, I’m leaning on a whole life’s work of swings and at-bats that have all been dedicated to being ready for this moment,” Bichette said. “I feel ready, and I’m ready to get out there. I’m super excited.”
The Blue Jays also included first baseman Ty France on their roster for the first time this postseason. Outfielder Joey Loperfido and right-handed reliever Yariel Rodriguez, who were on the American League Championship Series roster, were not included.
Bichette has not played in a game since injuring the knee in a collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells on Sept. 6. Bichette attempted to return in time for the AL Championship Series but could not run the bases without significant pain the day before the Blue Jays had to submit their roster.
The infielder worked out at second base and faced live pitching Wednesday and Thursday, after which he said the knee was “feeling good enough.” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Bichette could play second base, shortstop or even serve as the team’s designated hitter during the series, a move that would likely push George Springer into right field.
“I’ve seen him do it, albeit minor leagues a few years ago — or a number of years ago,” Schneider, who previously worked in the organization’s minor league system, said of Bichette playing second base. “But as long as he was moving around fine and physically felt OK, you felt good about putting him out there.”
Set to be a free agent this winter, Bichette had a rebound season after posting a .598 OPS in 81 games in an injury-plagued 2024 campaign. The homegrown star, 27, finished second in the majors with a .311 batting average and hit 18 home runs with 94 RBIs and an .840 OPS.
Without him, the Blue Jays have played Andres Gimenez, their regular second baseman, at shortstop in the postseason with Isiah Kiner-Falefa getting most of the starts at second base.
Los Angeles added right-handers Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein while dropping lefty Alex Vesia and righty Ben Casparius. The Dodgers said Thursday that Vesia was not with the team in Toronto because of a family matter. The Dodgers opted to leave Vesia off the roster entirely rather than putting him on Major League Baseball’s family medical emergency list, which would have allowed him to return to the roster within three to seven days.
“We just didn’t want to have any potential for any kind of pressure,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “This is so much bigger than baseball. For us, it was doing whatever small part we could to just a hundred percent be supportive.”
Former closer Tanner Scott was not added. The left-hander was dropped from the National League Division Series roster following surgery Oct. 8 to remove an abscess from an infection on his lower body.
Clayton Kershaw, who was left off the Dodgers’ wild-card series roster and did not pitch in the NLCS, is on the World Series roster. Kershaw has said he plans to retire after this season.
Information from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and the Associated Press was used in this report.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024