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MLB World Series Preview: Toronto Blue Jays v Los Angeles Dodgers

Posted on | Posted by Benjamin Newton

TABtouch’s resident Baseball Nut Ben Newton is here to help you navigate the exciting best of 7-game MLB World Series which kicks off Saturday morning.

After 162 regular season games, a Wild Card Series, Division Championship Series and a League Championship Series, we are down to two teams: The Defending World Series Champions the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers have been very impressive so far this Postseason, knocking off the Reds, Phillies and Brewers with stellar starting pitching and a batting lineup that doesn’t quit.

When you look at LA’s Hollywood roster, one star shines brightest: Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese $1 billion pitcher/home-run-slugger. Ohtani overcame a sluggish postseason run to put up arguably the greatest individual performance of all time in the final League Championship Series game against the Brewers. If that performance has broken him out of the slump, watch out.

The Dodgers weakness lies in the bullpen however it won’t matter if their starting pitchers can retain their postseason form, and closer Roki Sasaki continues to tie things down.

LA Dodgers markets to watch out for across the series:

Pitchers:
6+ Total Strikeouts or 18+ Total Outs Recorded for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani
6+ Total Strikeouts or 15+ Total Outs Recorded for Tyler Glasnow

Batters:
1+ Hits for Will Smith, Tommy Edman, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman
1+ Doubles Kike Hernandez
1+ RBI for Tommy Edman

The Toronto Blue Jays

The Canadians are looking for their first World Series win since 1993 and are led by the dominant Canadian-Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Toronto’s League Championship Series MVP has put up the third-best postseason OPS of any player in history and has picked up at least 1 hit in 9 of his 11 postseason games so far. Even more impressively, Vladdy Jr. has amassed 6 home runs and only 3 strikeouts across those 11 games.

With Shortstop Bo Bichette likely to return after six weeks on the injury list, the Blue Jays already powerful lineup becomes massive. Springer, Lukes, Clement and Barger have been more than solid; Varsho, Kiner-Falefa and Giménez have brought firepower at key moments.

The weakness for the Blue Jays lies in their pitching. Shane Bieber has been hit and miss with two short outings this postseason while rookie Yesavage is an unknown quantity. His three postseason starts have been an equal mix of incredible, solid and poor while the bullpen has shown some shakiness.

On the positive side, Gausman has performed consistently and you can never forget Max Scherzer.

Toronto Blue Jays markets to watch out for across the series:

Pitchers:
3+ Total Strikeouts, 15+ Total Outs and 5+ Total Innings for Kevin Gausman
3+ Total Strikeouts for Shane Bieber

Batters:
1+ Hits for Vladimir Guerrero Jr, George Springer, Nathan Lukes, Clement, Barger
1+ Doubles George Springer and Bo Bichette
1+ Home Runs for Vladimir Guerrero Jr

Series Prediction:

The best starting pitching (LA) against the best hitting (Toronto) makes this World Series a very tasty matchup.

If:

  • Ohtani stays hot, Freeman warms up, Kike Hernandez gets going and Andy Pages breaks out
  • The Dodgers hitters take advantage of a shaky pitching roster
  • The LA starting pitchers continue their incredible run of postseason form

We should see the first repeat World Series winner since 2000.

If:

  • The Blue Jays take out the Dodgers starting pitchers early in 2 of the first 3 games
  • Yesavage is lights out like he was against the Yankees and Bieber and Scherzer provide solid starts
  • The Jays bullpen gets sorted

We should see the first Toronto World Series win since 1993.

My bet? It’s just too hard to go against the Dodgers. It seems safe, it seems easy, but Postseason LA is a beast. Their unrelenting pressure and talent will likely be too much for the Blue Jays and their pitching crew.

The counter-argument? Every team that has entered the World Series by sweeping the LCS has been beaten when their opponent entered the World Series after winning their respective LCS in 7 games. The Dodgers swept the Brewers. The Blue Jays beat the Mariners in 7 games.

In the battle of the niche statistic and the best system in baseball I’m still picking LA, but not without a fight.

Series prediction: Los Angeles 4-2

World Series Singles Best Bets:

Exact Outcome of the Series: Los Angeles 4-2 @ $4.50
Most Hits in the Series: Shohei Ohtani @ $6.50
Most Home Runs in World Series: Vladimir Guerrero Jr @ $4
Total Games Played in the Series: Under 6.5 @ $1.34

Game 1 Same Game Multi:

Over 5.5 Total Runs @ $1.34
George Springer Over 0.5 Total Hits @ $1.61
Vladimir Guerrero Jr Over 0.5 Total Hits @ $1.42
Shohei Ohtani Over 0.5 Total Hits @ $1.44
Blake Snell Over 5.5 Strikeouts @ $1.47

MULTI: $6.75

Baseball Markets Baseball Markets



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