by Mark Langill
The joyride finally hit a rocky road.
An 11–4 loss in Game 1 of the World Series against the Blue Jays at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Friday has suddenly backed the Dodgers into a corner.
The momentum of a 9–1 start to the postseason, including 4–0 away from Dodger Stadium, blew up during Toronto’s nine-run outburst in the sixth inning, highlighted by Addison Barger’s grand slam, the first by a pinch-hitter in World Series history.
The Dodgers’ sizzling road start in 2025 also ran into postseason history. The Dodgers are now 1–12 in when opening a World Series on the road, the only exception being Sandy Koufax’s 5–2 victory in the eventual 1963 four-game sweep of the Yankees.
Of the Dodgers’ eight championships, 1963 was the only title clinched on their home field. That’s technically possible if the Dodgers run the table and finish off the Blue Jays in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.
And three times in their history have the Dodgers lost the first two road games of a World Series and eventually came out out on top — 1955 (Yankees), 1965 (Twins) and 1981 (Yankees).
But the so-called 2025 mismatch on paper, pitting the mighty Dodgers against a team that needed seven games to outlast the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS, is now rumpled in the trash can.
The reigning champs were punched in the mouth.
Left-hander Blake Snell, so close to perfection in his previous start in the National League Championship Series in Milwaukee, looked all too mortal in allowing five runs on eight hits while making 100 pitches in five-plus innings.
“I just thought tonight Blake just didn’t have fastball command,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “He was working deeper counts. When he had count leverage, he really couldn’t put ’em away because they were putting the ball in play, and there were just a couple bad walks in there. But you got to give those guys credit. They certainly fought.”
Snell began the sixth inning of a 2–2 game, but he loaded the bases on a walk, single and hit batsman, Relievers Emmet Sheehan and Anthony Banda couldn’t stop the rally.
Toronto cruised to its first World Series victory since its 1993 World Series Game 6 win over Philadelphia on Joe Carter’s walk-off home run.
For those searching for historically comforting omens, one of the Dodgers’ Game 1 World Series losses was an 11–0 blowout at Chicago’s Comiskey Field in 1959, quickly forgotten when the Dodgers dispatched the White Sox in six games.
2025 World Series: Dodgers look to rebound after getting a rough introduction in opener was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.