Who else in Blue Jays-Dodgers series could be Cooperstown-bound?

When the Toronto Blue Jays begin their series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Friday evening, the pitching matchup will pit two future Hall of Famers against each other. The Blue Jays are sending Max Scherzer to the mound while the Dodgers will counter with Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw and Scherzer have combined for 155.5 bWAR, 6,461 strikeouts, 435 wins, four World Series championships, 19 All-Star games, and six Cy Young awards. They once were teammates and now, in the twilight of their careers, are hoping to be part of another championship run with their respective teams.

Both guys could retire tomorrow and would already be first ballot Hall of Fame candidates. But as the series begins it's worth questioning whether or not the Blue Jays and the Dodgers feature any other future Hall of Fame candidates.

Who else in Blue Jays-Dodgers series could be Cooperstown-bound?

Blue Jays - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Guerrero is just 26-years-old but has already started to put up some impressive numbers that could one day make him an easy case to be a Hall of Famer. He's accumulated a 25.4 bWAR through his age 25 season, more than Hall of Famers Eddie Murray (20.6) and Frank Thomas (22.5) as well as Miguel Cabrera (21.0) and Freddie Freeman (14.9) at the same point in their careers.

Over his seven years in the big leagues, he's averaging 179 hits, and 31 home runs a season. If he continues at that trajectory, by the end of his 14-year contract, Guerrero will have no problem reaching the numbers that usually solidify automatic entry into Cooperstown.

Dodgers - Freddie Freeman

At 35-years-old Freeman already has the 17th highest bWAR of any primary first basemen in the history of baseball. Of the 16 people ahead of him, 11 are in the Hall of Fame.

Three of them will be in the Hall of Fame, but aren't' eligible yet and they are Albert Pujols, MIguel Cabrera and Joey Votto. One has basically been blacklisted by the voters, Rafael Palmeiro and the remaining name is Paul Goldschmidt whose 64.1 bWAR is just ahead of Freemans 62.8.

Freeman has one MVP award, has finished in the top five of voting five times and top ten eight times. Over his 16-year career he has averaged a slash line of .300/.387/.510 with a 142 OPS+.

Blue Jays - Bo Bichette

It's going to take a lot for Bichette to get there, but if he keeps hitting at this pace it will be hard to keep him out. 2025 could potentially be the third season of his seven year career where he leads the league in hits. He's averaging 195 hits per season and at 27-years-old if Bo racks up that stat for another 13 years, by age 40 he'll be clearing the 3,000 hit bench mark.

He's also averaging a 120 OPS+ which is better than Hall of Famers Barry Larkin, Robin Yount and Derek Jeter. He lacks behind some of his contemporaries in the power numbers, but the next decade of Bo's career will really define his case.

Dodgers - Mookie Betts

Betts has been in the league for 12 years, but it feels like much longer, based on his impact. He's been part of three World Series championship teams. He's played in eight All-Star games, has six Gold Glove Awards, seven Silver Sluggers, a batting title, and a MVP award. He's led the league in bWAR in three individual seasons.

His career bWAR of 72.3 is higher than Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield, Ichiro Suzuki and Vladimir Guerrero. He doesn't have some of the counting stats yet, sitting at just over 1700 hits and 282 home runs his metrics all project out as Hall of Fame numbers if he can keep up this pace for another six of seven years. He's 32-years-old and his contract runs through 2032.

Dodgers - Will Smith

At 30-years-old, Smith has solidified himself as one of the best all-around catchers in the game. A solid hitter, who is also no slouch behind the dish, Smith has averaged 5.2 bWAR over his seven-year career, all with LA. Among all catchers in MLB history, that is the 10th best bWAR per season, beating the likes of Mike Piazza, Gary Carter, Joe Mauer and even Yogi Berra.

Of course most of those players all went on to continue to put up great numbers late in to their careers and the average Hall of Fame catcher has a career bWAR of 53.7. Similar to Bichette it will take Smith several more years of this kind of production to start to make some serious noise, but he's averaged 150 hits, 29 home runs and a 128 OPS+ to this point of his career.

Dodgers - Shohei Ohtani

Due to the nature of being a two-way player, Ohtani might never reach those counting numbers most Hall of Fame players have. On the other hand, he's already reached 1,000 hits in just eight big league seasons, while also pitching to a career 2.98 ERA in 500 career innings with 633 strikeouts. He is simultaneously an ace, while also being the best hitter on the planet and the fact he has proven that for more than a couple of years should cement his candidacy.

He's the only member of the 50/50 club, he led the league in home runs, OBP, SLG, OPS and OPS+ in back to back seasons WHILE recovering from Tommy John surgery. He's a Rookie of the Year Award winner, three-time MVP, five-time All Star, three-time Silver Slugger and a World Series champion.