The 2025 World Series begins on Friday at Rogers Centre, where the American League-champion Toronto Blue Jays host the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The pregame narrative: Toronto is back in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1993, while the Dodgers are looking to become the first team in over 20 years to repeat as champs. It’s a star-studded showdown featuring Shohei Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Check out my Dodgers vs. Blue Jays picks for Game 1 of the World Series, featuring prop predictions on George Springer and Blake Snell.
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Dodgers vs. Blue Jays picks
Best bet: Snell under 6.5 strikeouts (-132)
Fading Snell might seem foolish. The lefty has carved up all three opponents he’s faced this postseason.
- MIL: 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K
- PHI: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 9 K
- CIN: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 9 K
His strong postseason run comes after a September in which he punched out double-digit batters twice and ended his year by allowing one run over his final three starts.
But the Blue Jays are a different breed.
Starting pitchers are 0-11 vs. this line against Toronto this postseason. No starting pitcher has even recorded five strikeouts vs. Toronto.
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And between the Yankees and Mariners, Toronto has seen some excellent arms with big strikeout upside.
Even if Snell is a cut above most of them when he’s at his best, this is a big number to ask of any pitcher against the Blue Jays at the moment.
Toronto had one of the best offences in baseball this season and struck out at the lowest rate in the game.
- No. 1 in batting average
- No. 1 in on-base percentage
- No. 4 in wRC+
In the playoffs, the club has been even better.
Key stat: Toronto’s MLB-best K rate is even lower in the postseason, and the club is No. 1 in all three slash categories, plus wRC+ by a mile.
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World Series best bets
Springer over 1.5 total bases (+143): This pick isn’t about riding the wave of Springer’s epic Game 7 ALCS moment. But that does come into play, in a sense.
- Springer is a big-time playoff performer (23 homers, .883 OPS in 78 games) with pop.
- He’s a leadoff hitter slugging .609 with a .929 OPS this postseason, clearing this line eight times in 11 games.
The designated hitter delivers when the stakes are highest, and his 2025 playoff success comes after a resurgent year at the plate.
Springer finished with a career-best 166 wRC+ and was at worst a top-three hitter in the sport in the second half.
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No one is hitting Snell right now, but this price is too good to pass up.
Snell has done well in this head-to-head matchup, but Springer has seen the southpaw more than any Blue Jay. And I’m encouraged that he has only stuck out four times in 24 career plate appearances.
Toronto over 3.5 runs (+120): Toronto is 8-3 vs. this number in the playoffs.
Snell is a huge challenge and the Dodgers have loads of fresh arms available after him, having not played in a week.
Los Angeles has only allowed more than three runs in one of its last eight playoff games.
But I’m not turning down this plus-money price on a club hitting as well as the Blue Jays, who are at home and elite at putting the ball in play. It’s really as simple as that.
Dodgers vs. Blue Jays picks made at 2:55 p.m. on 10/23/2025.
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Chris joined NorthStar Gaming from Covers.com where he was a publishing editor and wrote betting content. Before that, he was the sports editor at VICE Canada, worked for theScore and covered the Blue Jays for MLB.com. In addition to filling out the lineup card each day for the editorial team, Chris writes frequently himself, primarily on the NBA and MLB.