Hello and welcome to the final iteration of these posts. It’s been a fun ride all postseason, and fortunately, there doesn’t appear to be many big changes in store for the Dodgers. The specialists will continue to be carried over from earlier rounds into their World Series matchup against the Blue Jays, and due to winning the NLCS over the Brewers in a sweep, so will the rotation plan.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts says it will be Blake Snell in Game 1 of World Series with Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2. Probably going to “run back” the same rotation after that which would mean Tyler Glasnow in Game 3 and Shohei Ohtani in Game 4
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 21, 2025
Indeed, there looks to be literally one change coming. Maybe.
Dave Roberts said there’s “one spot” on the Dodgers World Series roster that’s up for debate, but the rest will look the same as the NLCS.
— Blake (@ByBlakeWilliams) October 21, 2025
Truthfully, this post is probably just for me to get some thoughts out.
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Here’s a prediction as to how the Dodgers’ roster could look for the seven-game World Series.
Catchers (2)
Will SmithBen Rortvedt
Infielders (4)
Freddie FreemanMookie BettsMax MuncyMiguel Rojas
Outfielders (4)
Andy PagesTeoscar HernandezAlex CallJustin Dean
Utility (3)
Tommy EdmanEnrique HernandezHyeseong Kim
Unicorn (1)
Shohei Ohtani
There doesn’t appear to be any debate here at this point.
I guess there could be some thought as to whether Alex Call is a bad matchup given the lack of lefties for the Blue Jays, but I’d bet he earned the team’s trust as a bench bat and they’re not gonna do something insane like put Michael Conforto on the roster just because of handedness at this point. Also, if the Blue Jays make a choice to neutralize a lefty at the bottom of the order, he (and Miguel Rojas) could be a valuable option against one of their three or four lefty relievers that haven’t exactly been great so far.
The lineup is probably gonna have to show up more than it has in the NLDS and NLCS due to the matchup, and hopefully they will.
Think the Blue Jays will get theirs, but whether their staff can emulate the Phillies or even the Brewers is more interesting. The last time the Dodgers saw a comparable staff was the Reds. https://t.co/MSaebCuuli
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) October 22, 2025
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Starters (4)
Blake SnellYoshinobu YamamotoTyler GlasnowShohei Ohtani
Bullpen (9)
Blake TreinenAlex VesiaJack DreyerAnthony BandaEmmet SheehanRoki SasakiJustin WrobleskiClayton KershawBen Casparius
The rotation is basically set with those four, and so is the order after the NLCS, as there’s no reason to not go Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow, Ohtani, Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow/Ohtani/Snell/Kitchen Sink in the World Series. They are all on plenty of rest at this point, so that’s moot.
The one possible decision that Dave Roberts alluded to is likely to be in the pen. While the Blue Jays have a lot of quality bats up and down their lineup, their very best (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, Bo Bichette) are all right-handed. Still, they are surprisingly neutral to handedness as a lineup except for Guerrero, and the Dodgers are lefty reliever heavy, so it’s within the realm of possibility they add like a Will Klein or Edgardo Henriquez over Justin Wrobleski or Tanner Scott.
Still, any of those would be a pretty big gamble if they use them in key spots, so hopefully it remains moot. More likely, the key matchups will be Roki, Treinen, Sheehan, and even Casparius against those three elite bats.
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Vs. RHPOhtani DHBetts SSFreeman 1BSmith CMuncy 3BT. Hernandez RFEdman 2BE. Hernandez LFPages CF
Vs. LHPOhtani DHBetts SSSmith CFreeman 1BEdman 2BHernandez RFMuncy 3BE. Hernandez LFPages CF
The Blue Jays don’t have a lefty starter, but they could do something like using Eric Lauer or one of their other lefty relievers as an Opener because Shohei keeps them up at night (valid), so the lineup against an Opener is typically something like that. They bumped up Dills to the three-hole after Game 1, presumably due to feeling more confident he’s healthy.
The main possible pinch-hit matchup I see is if they go lefty against Freeman-Smith-Muncy or even just Muncy near the end of the game, at which point you might see Call or Rojas deployed since either could enter for defense anyway. Other than that, they’re aligned pretty well to handle any handedness play.
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After the offense carried the day against the Reds in the WCS while the pen faltered, both the Phillies in the NLDS and Brewers in the NLCS did a solid job limiting the lineup, so thankfully the rotation was otherworldly and the pen was bend but don’t break. In the World Series against the Blue Jays, their bats will likely put more on the board, so it looks like the Dodger bats will have to come alive again to carry them in some contests, and hopefully they’re up for the challenge.
