In World Series, behemoth Dodgers represent the final boss for tormented Blue Jays

The Athletic has live coverage of Dodgers vs. Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series.

The unforeseen World Series matchup between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers has brought all the tired jokes back to life. There were the ones about trading for cash to make a run at Roki Sasaki only to whiff. There were the ones about anxious fans tracking airplanes that ultimately were not carrying Shohei Ohtani to Toronto.

The Blue Jays have been relentlessly reminded of those ambitious pursuits that made them look like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, especially when both Sasaki and Ohtani wound up with the Dodgers.

But for the Blue Jays, this World Series matchup against a behemoth of the sport represents far more than a rehash of cheap punchlines. What they’ve done since those misses is make progress. The money once tabbed for Sasaki has been used on players that may be a big part of the Blue Jays’ future. And even with Ohtani at the height of his powers in the other dugout, the Jays’ resurgent season has put them in position to have the last laugh.

The Blue Jays, despite those past follies, have earned the chance to confront their tormentors and defeat the Dodgers for a World Series championship.

“Our team understands who’s on the other side of that line,” outfielder George Springer said on the eve of Friday’s Game 1 at Rogers Centre. “That’s a great baseball team. There’s absolutely no denying it. For us, it’s just about staying in the moment.”

Such an opportunity seemed far-fetched on Dec. 8, 2023.

The day began as a potential turning point for the franchise, with the Blue Jays reportedly closing in on signing Ohtani. With fans and players glued to their phones in anticipation, general manager Ross Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro appeared primed to claim a massive victory. The duo seemingly lured the biggest fish in free agency — or had at least ushered him onto a plane.

Kevin Gausman tracked the news from a golf cart in Puerto Rico. Bo Bichette texted then-teammate Yusei Kikuchi. Everyone waited. But Ohtani was never on that plane, a fact that became clear a day later when he signed his megadeal with the Dodgers.

“It’s an unfortunate reality as a free agent,” Ohtani said through a team interpreter, “that you only get to really pick one team.”

That “unfortunate reality” came into play again just last January when Sasaki, the next young, great Japanese hurler, visited Toronto. The 23-year-old said on Thursday that he “strongly considered” the Jays. Back then, he wore their jersey and pitched on their mound, part of a pre-signing workout.

The Blue Jays didn’t just think they had a shot at Sasaki. They acted upon that belief. Just hours before the pitcher’s final decision, the Blue Jays swung a deal with the Cleveland Guardians for $3.75 million in international bonus pool money, which put Toronto in place to spend $8.26 million on signing Sasaki. It was a position of strength — and a costly one.

As part of the deal with Cleveland, the Blue Jays also took on Myles Straw, and perhaps more notably, his salary of $13.8 million.

Yet for all that effort, Sasaki ultimately signed in sunny Los Angeles.

“It’s actually really hard to express why I eventually chose the Dodgers,” Sasaki said through a team interpreter.

When asked of his emotions upon returning to Toronto for the first time since that pre-signing workout, Sasaki offered a short reply.

“It’s cold,” he said. “That’s what I thought.”

Over the last two seasons, the Blue Jays are 2-4 against the Dodgers on the field, though adding those two free agency defeats brings the tally to 2-6. But the only wins that matter now are the next four. Secure those, and the Blue Jays get to hang a banner in Rogers Centre.

Clearly, the Jays aren’t in the World Series because they didn’t sign Ohtani and Sasaki. Those sagas were, objectively, defeats. Yet, the Jays still made it.

The Blue Jays did indeed lavish a megadeal. But it wasn’t on Ohtani but rather on their own homegrown star, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who agreed earlier this season on a 14-year deal worth $500 million. That move followed a brutal 2024 season, which the Blue Jays used to restock the farm system at the trade deadline and in this year’s draft, headed up by top talent such as JoJo Parker.

The Blue Jays even managed to make something out of that store of international bonus pool money that they’d acquired in their failed attempt to sign Sasaki. That pool was used to sign Juan Sanchez, an 18-year-old infielder that some in the organization believe is one of their best international additions since Guerrero. The Jays also signed 18-year-old Korean pitcher Seojun Moon, a talent that multiple Jays executives feared at one point was also destined for the Dodgers.

Oh, and Straw? The player the Jays took on mostly to get that bonus pool money? He posted a 2.9 bWAR while carrying himself in a way that teammates such as reliever Louis Varland described as “everything good about this team.”

“I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else,” Straw said. “Things worked out how they should. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see Moon throw in the World Series for the Blue Jays one day.”

Though a pair of Japanese stars spurned them, the Blue Jays have responded by scaling the obstacles that had been enough to block their path to greatness.

To clinch the AL East on the season’s final weekend, the Jays swept a Tampa Bay Rays team that’s tormented them for decades. It was their first sweep of Tampa since 2015.

This year’s club won the franchise’s first division title since 2015 — and the first under Shapiro and Atkins. In the Division Series, they picked apart the Yankees, then won the franchise’s first Game 7, becoming the only Toronto team since 1993 to win the American League pennant.

In a Blue Jays season of beast-slaying, it’s fitting that the most fearsome giant remains.

They face a Dodgers team looking to go back-to-back, a feat that has not been accomplished since the 2000 Yankees. Theirs is a lineup with three MVPs and a rotation that allowed just two earned runs in the NLCS. And, of course, the Dodgers are still the team that employs Sasaki and Ohtani.

Essentially every Blue Jay was asked some version of the same question ahead of Friday’s opener. How can they topple the mighty, mighty Dodgers? Aren’t the Jays huge underdogs? Is this not the ultimate battle of David vs. Goliath?

Most provided measured responses. They highlighted the strengths of both teams or discussed Toronto’s “complete squad” and relentless offence.

Discussing this final boss Dodgers with reporters, Ernie Clement was much more direct: “David won,” Clement said. “Didn’t he?”

One more slayed beast and the punchlines can end.

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