How do the Dodgers compare to the Blue Jays previous World Series opponents?

This is only the third trip to the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays but it’s certainly their most surprising. A team that was dead last in the American League last year, who entered the season with so many questions marks, somehow put together one of the best seasons in franchise history.

But regardless of how good their season was, the prevailing thought going into the series was that the Los Angeles Dodgers are just far and above a better team than Toronto. With Game 1 in the books and the Blue Jays winning 11-4, that margin may be shrinking in the minds of many. Still, the Dodgers overall might be the most formidable opponent Toronto has ever seen in a World Series.

How do the dodgers compare to the Blue Jays previous World Series opponents?

The Blue Jays first trip to the Fall Classic was in 1992 and many of the same narratives from them are returning 33 years later. In '92 the Braves were lead by a vaunted pitching staff comprised of two future Hall of Famers in Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, while Steve Avery and Charlie Liebrandt carried the bulk of the work at the back end of the rotation.

All four of those guys reached 190 innings pitched, with Liebrandt the lowest at 193 and Smoltz the most at 246. None of them had an ERA+ lower than 110 or a FIP higher than 3.37. Yes, it was a different era of baseball, where pitchers routinely worked into the sixth or seventh innings - in fact all of them had multiple complete games; Smoltz had nine, Glavine had seven, Leibrandt had five and Avery had two.

The Braves had four workhorses who could, and would, go deep into games and had a solid mix of righties and lefties that could either pitch to contact, or generate a good amount of strikeouts. That compares well to the Dodgers pitching foursome of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani. Those players have posted similarly impressive results and were a big reason the Dodgers have advanced almost effortlessly through the postseason.

As far as the offense goes, the Braves had the 1992 National League MVP winner on their team with third baseman Terry Pendleton taking home the hardware. The Dodgers also very likely boast this years MVP with Ohtani expected to receive that prize at seasons end. That's about where the similarities end though - the Dodgers are a team built on power hitting while the Braves had more of a contact approach and a deep bench.

LA has five regulars who have 20+ home runs while all nine guys in the starting lineup in Game 1 had at least 10 home runs. The Braves only had two players eclipse the 20+ homer plateau, but they also relied on their platoons with several players who could come off the bench and provide power, like Brian Hunter who had 14 home runs, or provide speed, like Deon Sanders who had 26 stolen bases and hit .304/.346/.495 with a league leading 14 triples in 97 games.

As for Toronto's opponents in 1993, the Phillies were also a better contact hitting team than the Dodgers, but paled in the power department. As a group, the Phillies slashed .274/.351/.426 with 665 walks, 1049 strikeouts and 156 home runs. The Dodgers in 2025 slashed .253/.327/.441 with 580 walks and 1353 strikeouts and 244 home runs.

The Phillies offense in '93 more closely resembles the Blue Jays of 2025 than the Dodgers with a full-team, pesky attitude approach and one or two guys that could really hurt you with one swing of the bat. The table setter was Lenny Dykstra, the left handed center fielder who led off for the Phillies and led the league in hits (194), runs (143), walks (129), and slashed .304/.420/.482 with a .902 OPS and 19 home runs.

The Phillies as a team hit .274 with an OBP of .351 and among the guys in the regular lineup for the Phillies, five of them hit .270 or better and seven of them had an OBP of .340 or higher. The Phillies lineup was full of guys who could be considered tough outs, but not so much as dangerous compared to the 2025 Dodgers.

Meantime, the pitching staff was no push over either, but they didn't carry the names with the same kind of pedigree as the Dodgers or the Braves. Statistically, the top four of the Phillies staff were very similar to the '92 Braves pitching staff with all of them getting close to 200 innings; Curt Schilling (235.1), Danny Jackson (210.1), Tommy Greene (200) and Terry Mullholland (191). They had the fourth best batting average against (.252) and they led the league with 1117 strikeouts.

It's not just the personnel and statistics where we draw similarites either. In '92 the Blue Jays were the underdogs, who finally pushed through after years of disappointment to get to the World Series, just like their 2025 counterparts, while the Braves were coming off a World Series appearance the year prior, losing in Game 7. Just like the Dodgers, they were the perceived favorites based on a few things including their recent playoff track record.

The roles seemed reversed in '93. The Blue Jays were the defending champions, like the Dodgers of 2025, and the Phillies went from worst to first in the NL East from '92 to '93, just like the 2025 Blue Jays. One Game into the 2025 edition of the Fall Classic, the Blue Jays have upset the narrative and we'll see what role they ultimately end up playing when it's all said and done.